Homo-Draconis
by Dannrose
Summary: After a minor run in with a witch Snotlout is now a dragon, namely a baby Monstrous Nightmare. With Hiccup and Stoick trying hard to keep it secret Snotlout starts to see the potential for his new form when Berk is visited by another tribe whose heir has been less than kind to both Hiccup and Snotlout in the past. You can get away with a lot when you're a baby dragon.
1. Alteration

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and welcome to another story set in the 'Differently Similar' AU. Yes I know that I've still got a story ongoing but I got this idea so I decided to run with it and take a bit of a break from my 'Family of Fire' AU for a little while. 'Sweet Wraith' will not be forgotten and I am writing the next chapter for that fic so it will be updated soon. This is a 'dragon transformation' fic but seeing as my AUs are mostly centred around Snotlout it will be Snotlout who turns into a dragon. It will mostly be Snotlout's adventures while he is a dragon so there probably won't be much in the way of serious plotlines but we'll see how it goes and I hope you enjoy the first chapter.**_

 _ **I do not own any aspect of How to Train Your Dragon.**_

* * *

 **Alteration**

"Don't glare at me like that Snotlout, this is your fault and you know it!"

Snotlout grumbled at Hiccup's statement still intent on blaming him and the older cousin sighed, "You just had to go near that house didn't you? Why can't you just learn to leave things alone?"

The younger cousin snorted at Hiccup's words, the older cousin was hardly much better and it wasn't like the house looked particularly dangerous. It was in the darkest part of the forest…in the middle of a ring of standing stones…surrounded by a sinister mist…covered in cobwebs…and had runes carved into its walls but there was nothing else to suggest it was a witch's house. How was he to know that the occupying witch would panic upon seeing Hookfang and then strike him with a hasty spell before vanishing in a whirlwind leaving him the way he was now?

Namely as a baby Monstrous Nightmare.

In all honesty Snotlout would've found the whole thing quite cool if he'd been turned into an adult Nightmare or at least an adolescent (which would've made a lot more sense considering he was a teenager) but instead he was a baby dragon which was kind of…embarrassing. Toothless was noticeably confused by the sudden transformation of his rider's cousin and was staring at him quizzically, Hookfang on the other hand (or was claw now?) seemed to quite like his rider's new form and was grinning at the little Snotlout dragon.

Hiccup gave another sigh, bent down, put his hands just behind Snotlout's new wing joints and lifted him up, Snotlout gave a small growl of protest and waved his wings around as he squirmed in his cousin's grip. Hiccup rolled his eyes, "Snotlout, will you stop wriggling around!? The best thing we can do now is get you back to Berk, tell dad what's happened and hope Gothi has an answer to this. At the moment you can't ride Hookfang so you're going to have to ride on Toothless with me."

Snotlout waved his wings again pointedly and Hiccup gave his third sigh in a short space of time, "You may have wings but you're a baby dragon so they might not be developed enough for you to use them, even if they are you don't have the instincts or knowledge to use them properly so unless you want me to throw you off a cliff to see if you're naturally talented at flying you'll be riding with me on Toothless."

The younger cousin thought for a moment before deciding that Hiccup had a very good point and grunted in reluctant agreement. Shaking his head Hiccup carried his dragon-cousin over to Toothless and gently placed him on the Night Fury's back just in front of the saddle, the older cousin then mounted his dragon and placed a firm hand on Snotlout's back to keep him in place. From his position Snotlout found himself taking in the wonderful view that was the back of Toothless' head, he was so small that he couldn't see over the Night Fury's ear flaps and neck and looking sideways didn't yield much either. There was a considerable lurch as Toothless launched into the air and Snotlout let out a squeak of alarm, the motion felt considerably more violent than when he was human and he wondered if that was because he was now a lot smaller. Hiccup's hand had tightened at his squeak and he was now glad that his cousin had kept it resting on his back, without it he would've probably tumbled off when Toothless took off.

With Hiccup keeping Snotlout secure on Toothless' back, the Night Fury flew towards Berk with Hookfang following behind.

* * *

 _ **PS-A short starter chapter but the rest will be longer. Please let me know what you thought and I'll try to update soon.**_


	2. Secret Plans

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and welcome to chapter two. As I mentioned last chapter this story is in my 'Differently Similar' AU so there are obviously differences from the actual canon. If you don't know this AU already I suggest that you read 'Differently Similar' first or at least its first chapter which should give you enough background knowledge to go one. I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **Secret Plans**

Thankfully it was getting dark by the time they were approaching Berk allowing Hiccup to fly Toothless straight to his house without being stopped by anyone. They landed and hurried inside with Hiccup carrying Snotlout and found Stoick home and apparently cooking dinner.

The chief smiled as his son entered, "Welcome home son." He then frowned, "Where's Snotlout?"

Hiccup placed his cousin on the table speaking awkwardly, "Erm…well…he's here but his current…situation is a bit more difficult to explain." He gestured to his dragon-shaped cousin, "This is Snotlout."

Stoick stared at him for a moment then burst into laughter, "Very good Hiccup, nice try but you're not going to fool me that easily." He looked around the room still chortling, "Now, tell Snotlout to come out of hiding."

"Dad, I'm serious. This is Snotlout."

Snotlout let out a small roar of agreement and Stoick's laughter died away when he saw just how serious Hiccup was. He looked between his son and the small Nightmare that was his nephew seeing identical serious expressions on their faces, he stared at his son in disbelief, "Come now Hiccup, that can't be true." He looked back at his dragon-nephew, "How would it even happen."

"Long story short, we were out flying and encountered a witch who hit Snotlout with a spell that turned him into a baby Monstrous Nightmare before disappearing." Hiccup shrugged at his father's expression, "Yeah I'd have had difficulty believing it myself if I hadn't been there to see it."

Stoick gaped a bit more before bending down to look the dragon-Snotlout right in the eye, "Snotlout?"

Snotlout gave a very deliberate nod that couldn't be replicated by a well-trained dragon, as if to further prove Hiccup's words Hookfang manoeuvred himself into the house and dropped Snotlout's clothes that had come off when he'd changed form on the table beside their owner. Snotlout's helmet landed with a clatter and Stoick sat heavily in his large chair running a hand down his face, "Why do these things happen to you two, and now of all times?"

"Dad?"

The chief sighed, "Chief Mogadon and some of the Meathead Tribe are coming to Berk to see it now that we've made peace with dragons. They'll be arriving in two days."

Hiccup grimaced slightly, his father had spoken with Mogadon about the dragons at great length when they'd recently gone to sign the peace treaty they had. The Meatheads were their closest neighbours and the two tribes had a long history of friendship with each other, hence why Stoick had chosen to tell them about the dragons. The discussions had ended with the chiefs agreeing to Mogadon and a group from his tribe coming to Berk to see the dragons and maybe get one or two of their own. Hiccup had completely forgotten about the impending visit and Snotlout being turned into a dragon could complicate things a bit.

"It could get awkward if they know that Snotlout has been turned into a dragon."

Stoick nodded in agreement, "Aye, many of the Meatheads will still be very distrustful of dragons and even if we tell them a witch was responsible they could turn Snotlout's transformation into some kind of side effect from living with dragons. In a similar way to what Mildew did with Toothless and that storm, they could even turn on Snotlout."

Snotlout gave a worried growl and Hiccup winced at the thought, "That would not be good…at all."

"Which is why we're not going to tell them." Stoick stood decisively, "Until we've worked out how to reverse this we won't tell anyone, not even the other riders. The only other person who'll need to know is Gothi, she might be able to find a way to fix it."

"But what am I going to tell the others? They're going to ask questions if Snotlout simply vanishes and there's suddenly a baby Monstrous Nightmare who's appeared out of nowhere."

Stoick thought for a moment then answered, "Tell them Snotlout is ill and that what he's got is highly contagious so Gothi has had him moved to her hut. That'll keep people away and give a reason why the others are not allowed to go and see him. It'll also give us a reason to be heading to Gothi's regularly meaning we can work with her to find a solution."

Hiccup brightened as he thought of some additions to the plan himself, "And we can pretend that Snotlout is a baby Nightmare we found abandoned in the forest or better yet…" His eyes lit up, "We could find him in the woods! If we set it up right we can 'find' Snotlout tomorrow while doing Academy training and that way no one will question the timing of Snotlout falling ill and the appearance of a baby Nightmare or him being with me most of the time."

Stoick looked impressed, "That might just work, let's run with that. The Meatheads won't see anything other than a baby dragon if the village believes it and with Snotlout supposedly at Gothi's there's little chance any of them will discover that he's not ill at all."

Pleased with their plan Hiccup smiled, "Okay then, I'll take Snotlout to Gothi first thing tomorrow and explain to her what's going on. Once I've done that I'll drop Snotlout off in the forest where we can 'find' him later before heading to the Academy as normal."

His father smiled in satisfaction, "And I'll mention Snotlout's 'illness' to Astrid's mother tomorrow. That woman is a natural gossip so word will spread like wildfire through the village and by the time it's done no one will have any information close to the truth."

Father and son grinned at each other as Snotlout looked from one to the other, he'd wanted to put his own opinion into the discussion but he was limited in how he could communicate anything. That and the plan was a pretty solid one, he had no desire to try his luck with people knowing the truth right at this moment. Vikings could be very superstitious and anything perceived as a threat was often dealt with by hitting it with a weapon very hard until it went away, something his current body would not cope with very well. Also people would get nervous if they knew he'd been transformed by magic and Mildew would no doubt capitalise on that fear if he could to try and get rid of dragons, throw in Meatheads who were highly wary of dragons and you had a volatile issue that could blow up more spectacularly than a dying Red Death. Best that he pretended to be a normal dragon for now and being a baby one would actually work in is favour since no one would find it strange when he bumbled about and tripped over as he got used to his new body.

Of course the other issue that none of them had mentioned was that he was much more vulnerable in this form and he was still the chief's nephew. There were a lot of people out there like Alvin who would take advantage of this which was why there seemed to be an assumption that he'd be spending much of his time with Hiccup, better to keep him with someone constantly accompanied by a Night Fury rather than let him wander about on his own while he was like this. No doubt when Hiccup left him in the forest for his miraculous discovery tomorrow he'd also leave Hookfang nearby to keep an eye on him just in case.

Both Hiccup and Stoick looked at him and Snotlout nodded and growled to confirm that yes, he did understand the plan. Hiccup gave him a small smile, "Hopefully Gothi will find some way to fix this but with the Meatheads arriving we won't be able to do much investigating ourselves. We'll just have to make it through their visit without them finding out what's happened."

Snotlout growled in agreement.

* * *

 _ **PS-And so plans are made. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.**_


	3. The Plan Starts

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and welcome to the next chapter. This one sees Snotlout meeting the others in his dragon form. Hopefully it flows okay because you see a lot of Snotlout's mental commentary and I'm hoping I transfer between that and what's happening in a way that's not confusing. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

* * *

 **The Plan Starts**

Snotlout gave a little yawn and looked around the area in boredom.

He was currently waiting in a small forest clearing for Hiccup to lead the other teens here to magically 'find' him. As planned they'd gone via Gothi's first thing that morning and his uncle and Hiccup had explained the situation to her, she'd actually required little convincing and readily agreed to help keep everything under wraps as she tried to find a way to reverse the spell. Hiccup offered to help but she'd stubbornly shook her head and said (or rather wrote) that this sort of thing was beyond him to fix and he should just focus on keeping Snotlout's transformation secret. She'd shuffled back into her hut after this and Stoick left to start his day's duties so Hiccup took Snotlout out into the forest to start the next stage of their cover up plan. His cousin soon found a suitable place to leave him and as expected he sent Hookfang into the forest to keep an eye on Snotlout from hiding, no sense in taking any chances with the boy-turned-dragon's safety in his current situation, and departed on Toothless after running through how Snotlout should act to convince them he was a normal dragon when they 'found' him. This left Snotlout sort of on his own for a while with not much to occupy him, yes Hookfang was nearby but the dragon was remaining out of sight to maintain Snotlout's cover as an abandoned baby so he could hardly help to keep him occupied.

Snotlout looked round the clearing again and sighed, this was really boring, couldn't Hiccup hurry it up already? He gave another yawn, maybe he should have a nap? No, not really a good idea. Sleeping peacefully was not normal for an abandoned baby. Maybe he should start giving some distressed cries but he wasn't sure if the others were nearby and could hear him yet and it might cause Hookfang to come out of hiding which would make things a bit more difficult.

He shuffled his feet a bit and then had a thought, he hadn't yet had many opportunities to test walking about in his new body. Hiccup had been carrying him most places so he actually hadn't moved anywhere on his own at all and this was a perfect time to get the hang of moving about, he couldn't rely on someone carrying him about for ever and certainly not if he was to be convincing.

Decided on his course of action he experimentally lifted one of his wings, though they were roughly in the same place as his arms had been they felt very different, partly because of the wings attached but the actual construction of the limbs seemed different making them difficult to manoeuvre. He tried hard to remember how Hookfang looked when he walked about and replicate it, his first attempt resulted in him tripping forward and landing on his stomach as he moved the wrong limbs at the wrong times. The next few went a similar way, it seemed that walking on four legs was far more difficult than you'd think, and then he managed to actually take several steps but in his excitement he started going too fast and his limbs tangled causing him to flip forwards and land on his back. His attempts to rectify this situation brought forward another discovery.

Dragons couldn't sit up like humans making getting up from lying on your back a little bit more complicated.

He tried to roll himself onto his front but found he couldn't do that either, now he'd seen dragons roll over all the time so it shouldn't be that difficult but he just couldn't seem to work out how to do it. To make things worse his tail got in on the action. Up until now he'd sort of just ignored his new tail, he hadn't really been using it and apart from feeling weird it hadn't required any attention. Now though it was like his tail had decided it was tired of being ignored and was flicking about as he tried to right himself getting in the way and occasionally whacking him in the face. He glared at the rebellious appendage and as if in response it stopped its thrashing and fell back onto the ground. However the moment he started to try and roll over again it got in the way once more and he let out a frustrated growl.

"Hey guys, I think I've found something!"

Fishlegs' voice distracted Snotlout from his movement attempts and he heard several dragons landing in the clearing and footsteps heading his direction. It seemed the others had finally arrived just when he was stuck in a pretty humiliating position.

Great, just great.

Astrid's face loomed over him, "A baby Monstrous Nightmare?"

Fishlegs joined her, "Why is a Nightmare this young out here by itself?"

Hiccup had also appeared and he raised an eyebrow at his cousin's position but gave his well-rehearsed suggestion, "Maybe he's been abandoned for some reason or something's happened to his mother."

Snotlout had to hand it to Hiccup, he sounded just like he'd never seen him before. His cousin's acting skills were pretty good.

The twins had finally joined the rest and Ruffnut smiled, "Aww…he's so cute!"

He was? Well he was a baby dragon and you couldn't deny that all of them looked pretty cute and…WAIT! What was Ruffnut doing!? Why was she reaching towards him and…boy that was ticklish!

Snotlout squirmed and gave a strange gurgling growl as the girl tickled his belly. He rolled about the ground waving his limbs uncontrollably as Ruffnut continued to tickle him. The others giggled or grinned at the sight which to them was incredibly cute until Hiccup finally spoke, "Ruffnut, you should probably stop now."

Snotlout panted heavily. Thank you Hiccup. He'd been getting pretty tired and out of breath, who knew that the fact that he was really ticklish would transfer from his human form to his dragon one. He'd been keeping that fact about himself secret for quite a long time and he didn't really want people to know about it.

"I never knew that dragons could be ticklish!"

Snotlout looked at Fishlegs' and saw the older boy beaming at this apparently new dragon information he'd discovered. He then realised that he was still stuck on his back and he gave a little squeak at his friends hoping that one of them would pick him up or put him on his front. Unfortunately they were now embroiled in a discussion about what to do with him since Astrid was stating the risk of a repeat of the Torch incident and saying they had no way to confirm that the baby dragon was actually abandoned. Hiccup was trying to convince her otherwise without appearing to know more about the situation than he was supposed to or by being too pushy.

Snotlout squeaked again but they didn't notice and he sighed, well he'd have to get himself up then. Focusing his attention on his uncoordinated limbs he returned to his attempts to roll over but his tail was still determined to hinder his progress and he made little headway, after several attempts it once again smacked him in the face and he roared in annoyance and snapped at it, not the smartest move since that would only hurt him but he wasn't thinking about that at the time and he missed anyway. It then filtered through that the others had stopped talking and he looked up to see them all staring at him, he gave another squeak and waved his wings a couple of times and Fishlegs spoke, "I think he's stuck on his back."

Snotlout could see Hiccup trying very hard to hide his amusement. Yes Hiccup, he can't even roll himself over and was stuck! How hilarious.

He glared at his older cousin as he knelt down and picked him up and he held him loosely in his arms, "I'm pretty sure this little guy hasn't got anyone around to look after him. His mother would've appeared by now to chase us off if he did so we should take him back to the Academy."

Snotlout saw Ruffnut bounce up and down eagerly, "Can I hold him? Pleeease?"

What! No way! He was not going to be carried by Ruffnut and cuddled, he just wasn't! No doubt the girl would tickle him again and he did not want that at all. He looked up at Hiccup and shot him a pleading look and the boy shook his head, "No Ruffnut, I'll take him back to the Academy."

Snotlout sighed in relief. Thank you Hiccup, his cousin had just saved him from the excitement of Ruffnut. He felt them moving and realised that Hiccup was striding over to Toothless, he placed Snotlout on the Night Fury's back as he had done last night and mounted his dragon. There was the lurch of Toothless taking off and as they turned for home Snotlout was certain the others were following close behind.

Their plan seemed to have started pretty well.

* * *

 _ **PS-So the plan has started pretty well. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.**_


	4. How to Walk-With Professor Hookfang

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and welcome to the next chapter. This one is a bit more of Snotlout acclimatising to his new body with a bit of help from Hookfang. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **How to Walk-With Professor Hookfang**

It was a bit of an experience seeing the other Academy riders from the perspective of a dragon and Snotlout found it just a little bit entertaining.

Fishlegs was so ecstatic to discover that dragons could be ticklish that he was already planning ways to test if this trait was random or related to certain dragons, it was quite funny to see him getting so overexcited about something that was truthfully quite…pointless and his constant babbling about it was seemingly really annoying the others. Astrid didn't appear convinced that they weren't going to be attacked by an angry mother and she kept looking behind them as if expecting an enraged Monstrous Nightmare to suddenly appear and try to burn them all alive. Ruffnut had decided that he was incredibly cute and Snotlout could see that she was itching to cuddle him, he made a mental note to stay away from her as much as possible. Tuffnut was…Tuffnut, and he wasn't that bothered about the baby Nightmare they'd 'found'.

They flew into the Academy and found Hookfang there waiting for them, how the Nightmare had got to the Academy before them without them seeing was completely beyond Snotlout but he didn't get much chance to think about it when the dragon wandered over, picked him up and put him on the floor before giving his transformed rider a loving nuzzle. Snotlout blinked in surprise and slowly turned to face the others taking great care in how he placed his feet so he didn't fall again. Once turned he looked up at them and saw them looking between him and Hookfang, Ruffnut smiled and clapped her hands together excitedly, "Aww…look. He's a mini-Hookfang!"

Fishlegs was thoughtful, "They do look remarkably alike…"

Snotlout examined what he could of his body. Actually now that they mentioned it he did have quite a lot of similarities with his dragon which he'd not noticed yet, now that he was looking though there were quite a lot. He had the same orange and black coat and the same spines along his back. He couldn't see his head but he was willing to bet that he probably had the same horns as well and his tail was also the same shape as Hookfang's.

Fishlegs had crouched down and was staring intently at Snotlout's eyes unerving him slightly, "He's got blue eyes though." He stood once more, "I've never seen a Nightmare with blue eyes before. In fact I've hardly seen any dragon with blue eyes, possibly none."

Snotlout felt slight worry at Fishlegs' words. He had blue eyes huh. Most likely another carry over from his human form and quite unusual amongst dragons, hopefully Fishlegs wouldn't get too focused on this irregularity and unintentionally discover what was happening.

"It's likely just a very rare colour but if humans can get blue eyes then there's no reason why dragons can't." Hiccup suggested.

"You're probably right Hiccup." Fishlegs agreed, "But it's still kind of weird to look at."

So he looked weird. Thanks Fishlegs…thanks a lot.

"I think it makes him look adorable." Ruffnut stated as she moved towards him.

Snotlout began scurrying backwards. Keep away Ruffnut, he did not want to be cuddled or tickled. He tripped over his completely unhelpful tail and tumbled onto his back again.

Oh perfect. Now he was stuck…again!

Hookfang used his snout to gently roll his rider back onto his front and briefly nuzzled Snotlout's back and he heard Ruffnut squeal in delight though he had no idea why. Astrid had been watching the whole thing silently but she now crouched down beside him, "He must be really young because he doesn't seem to be able to move about on his own much yet. Most dragons find their footing and can at least walk about very quickly after they've hatched."

"Late hatcher maybe?" Fishlegs theorised, "Or if he was abandoned he might not have had any adult dragons around to copy so he's not learned to walk properly."

"Or he's really a human that's been turned into a dragon!" Tuffnut exclaimed dramatically.

Both Hiccup and Snotlout froze and shared a brief look of panic but Astrid had already snorted and stood up, "Seriously Tuffnut? That's ridiculous, even for you!"

Hiccup quickly shot in, "Yeah Tuffnut. I mean how would someone turn into a dragon anyway, it's impossible."

Snotlout tried not to roll his eyes at his cousin's words. Hiccup's acting at that moment was obviously fake so they just had to hope that no one noticed, thankfully no one did. A nudge from behind caused him to turn his head round (a long, flexible neck was incredibly useful for looking behind you) and look at Hookfang. The Nightmare nudged him again causing him to stumble forwards and nearly fall onto his face/snout/whatever he was supposed to call it and he glared at him. What was Hookfang doing? Was he trying to humiliate him?

The dragon came round in front of Snotlout and faced the way he was. Hookfang then took a single, slow, deliberate step and looked back at him expectantly. Snotlout tilted his head in confusion. What did Hookfang want him to do?

"I think Hookfang's trying to teach him to walk."

Snotlout looked in Fishlegs' direction and saw the boy staring at the scene in wonderment. He looked back at Hookfang and the dragon took another slow step, greatly exaggerating the movements.

"Not the sharpest sword in the armoury this one."

Snotlout shot a glare at Astrid. There was no need to call him stupid when he was right here, how many dragons had they'd seen using this method to teach young ones how to walk? It wasn't his fault some things took a while for him to learn, mostly written stuff but that was another issue entirely and it wasn't like Hookfang announced that they were having walking lessons or anything.

He fixed his attention back on Hookfang and the Nightmare gave another step demonstration. Snotlout tried his best to replicate it and unsteadily took a step, Hookfang took another and Snotlout copied and soon they were both slowly stepping around the Academy arena. Hookfang upped the pace to a more normal walking rate and Snotlout found himself scurrying to keep up. As they walked he began discovering the great many things that were different from walking as a human.

A key one was the fact that his body as a whole had a big impact on how he walked as a dragon. For example he found that if he kept his head and stance high he actually took higher and shorter steps which would be useful for stepping over large objects, if he crouched low his steps were closer to the ground but much longer letting him cover a greater forward distance and move faster. The high stance was more suited to a casual amble whereas the low one was great if he wanted to run somewhere quickly, a useful thing to keep in mind. His tail was also important, it was obvious that it was meant to help keep his balance but it was one thing to know this and another to experience it. It was continuingly in motion, shifting itself to accommodate his current position and he had to keep track of what it was doing or he'd find himself stumbling. It was kind of like keeping track of a fifth limb and because his human mind was used to dealing with only four it was taking a while to slot in the extra one to its processes. At the moment he was actually having to consciously think about what he was doing with it but the more he practiced the less thought it took as his mind began to accept it was there.

After a while Hookfang seemed to decide that the lesson was over and he turned and gave Snotlout another nuzzle growling in…was that pride? Snotlout turned back to the others and discovered that they'd been watching the entire lesson (Fishlegs had even been scribbling notes) and he smugly walked over to them. When he got close enough Ruffnut pounced, "Who's a clever little dragon!"

She picked him up and cuddled him and Snotlout let out distressed roar. Someone get this girl off of him! He did not want to be cuddled!

Hookfang gave an irritated roar at Snotlout's cries and he strode over and plucked his rider-turned-dragon out of the girl's arms. He deposited the bewildered boy on his back and gave Ruffnut a snort before stalking away. Snotlout looked around from his new vantage point, it was actually quite easy to maintain his balance on Hookfang's constantly moving back now he'd sort of worked out how his tail works. He carefully made his way along the Nightmare until he reached the dragon's head, hooking his wing claws on Hookfang's horns he perched on his dragon's head quite enjoying the sensation of riding his dragon this way. He looked back and saw Ruffnut looking shocked at Hookfang's reaction to her cuddling what she thought was just another baby Nightmare and he smirked.

Serves her right.

* * *

 _ **PS-Now I was mostly making it up with the whole mechanics of walking as a Monstrous Nightmare but it seemed logical to me so I went with it. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.**_


	5. Fire Test

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and welcome to another chapter. More of Snotlout getting used to his body and a slight incident occurs. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **Fire Test**

After Hookfang's walking lesson Hiccup moved the Academy back onto more normal training and soon they'd set out targets and dummies for combat practice.

Snotlout was sat to one side with Hookfang watching the training and soon grew bored. Hookfang had quite happily settled down for a brief snooze but Snotlout felt restless and had the urge to do something. He couldn't join in with the training for obvious reasons and the others couldn't drop everything just to entertain him (though Ruffnut would possibly be glad to use it as an excuse to cuddle him more) so he had to occupy himself. His eyes roamed the area and he noticed some small pieces of wood likely left over from a previously decimated target and he had an idea, he couldn't train with the others but there was nothing stopping him from doing some training of his own…in a manner of speaking.

He walked purposefully over to the wooden pieces and began rooting through them with his snout. Too small…too big…wrong shape…Ah! Perfect!

He grabbed the piece he wanted in his jaws (which, by the way, were pretty powerful) and he carried it over to the arena wall and propped it against it with some difficulty (he had to turn his head on its side to do it which was really awkward). With it in position he took several steps away and faced it.

It was time to see if he could use his fire breath.

Snotlout felt an excited shudder run through him at the thought, if he was a dragon now then he should have fire breath which was pretty awesome and had a multitude of uses if he could get a handle on using it. He already had several plans running through his mind that would work so well if he could breathe fire and its practical applications were pretty sweet as well.

He just had to work out how to use it first.

This was going to be the main issue since he had no idea how he activated his fire and it wasn't like dragons stored actual fire in their bodies and each species had its own method, Toothless and Barf and Belch used gases, Meatlug ate rock which she converted into lava and Stormfly used a magnesium based flame. Nightmares like Hookfang however used a natural gel that they could spit out and excrete all over their bodies which gave them their fire coat, unfortunately Snotlout wasn't sure how Hookfang produced this gel on command or how he lit it and they'd never seen a Nightmare teach its young to breathe fire. Apparently baby Nightmares instinctively knew how to use their flame but Snotlout wasn't an actual dragon so he didn't have those instincts to fall back on.

He'd work it out somehow.

Focusing on his 'target' he tried to think about where to start. Nightmares could spit the gel out so maybe if he tried to spit, it might not catch fire but if he could produce the gel then that was a start. He made an odd hacking/growling sound as he tried to bring up some spit and he felt something coming up is throat, his throat began bobbing up and down and whatever it was sped up and it reached the back of his mouth. This was it, he think he had it…

Oh.

The fish he ate for breakfast left his mouth and landed on the ground with slightly disgusting splat. Well that wasn't what he was aiming for...but at least he now knew how to regurgitate his meal…not that he particularly wanted to but it was something he didn't know how to do before so it was progress…sort of.

Pushing the half-digested fish away with a single claw Snotlout returned his attention to fire breathing. He now knew one method that wouldn't work so let's try a different one…wait! What were those weird things at the back of his throat?

He probed them cautiously with his tongue (which was now much more manoeuvrable than it had been when he was human) and the action caused him to gag, he then coughed and a small drop of liquid flame landed in front of him.

Huh…interesting.

He repeated the motion and coughed up some more flame.

So that's how it worked! Those weird things in his throat produced the flames, now he was getting somewhere! So how to make them launch the fire?

He crouched down facing the target he'd set up and focused on the back of his throat, he felt the odd things there pulsing and he tried to gain control of their motions. He felt something build behind them and he unknowingly dropped his mouth open, the pressure increased and he drew his head back as the pressure increased and increased…then at the moment it reached critical he thrust his head forwards, opened his jaws as wide as they would go and the flames launched from his mouth splattering everywhere in front of him with liquid fire. The piece of wood he was using as a target was liberally covered and burst into flame, burning to ashes with great rapidity.

Snotlout snapped his jaws closed as the flames ran out and he looked at his handiwork with pride. He'd actually done it! He'd managed to use his fire breath and quite effectively by the amount that was now coating the floor in front of him. He then noticed that his fire had reached a nearby barrel containing spare wooden targets…that was beside the spare cloth dummies…which were near fresh straw bedding for the dragons…and the whole lot had started to burn quite well.

Oops.

He looked around frantically for some way to stop the blaze before it got out of hand and saw that Hiccup had already seen the unintentional bonfire and was throwing out commands to the others, "Astrid, get more water right away! Fishlegs, help her! Ruff, Tuff, use the dragon's water trough to start dousing the flames!"

The other teens hurried to obey (though the twins did so with a bit of reluctance) and Hiccup seized a bucket of water kept for such occurrences and threw its contents over the flames. The twins followed with the water from the trough and in record time Astrid and Fishlegs ran back in with more water to finish the job.

The former fire now a sodden mess, Hiccup gave a sigh of relief and then looked at his cousin-turned-dragon.

Quick! Look as innocent as possible and maybe Hiccup will believe it was a Terror or something instead.

Hiccup folded his arms and frowned at his cousin showing that Snotlout's ploy wasn't working. Astrid looked at Snotlout as well, "I guess he doesn't really have much control over his fire either. We should've really expected that from a baby dragon."

"Yes we should've done."

Snotlout shuffled guiltily at Hiccup's tone. Yeah he was in for a long lecture later about testing his fire breath without checking the area first…but at least he now knew how to use his flames. His eyes roamed over the now useless targets, dummies and straw his little experiment had destroyed and decided that Hiccup wasn't going to accept that as a suitable exchange…but it could've been worse…right?

Hiccup sighed, "I'm now going to have to explain to dad why we need more training equipment."

Uh oh, that was going to mean a second lecture from his uncle and it was going to be a considerably longer and louder one than Hiccup's. Stupid barrel being so close to his practice area.

He found himself being lifted up and plonked on Toothless' back. Hiccup mounted the Night Fury behind him and muttered in his cousin's ear, "You just had to try and breath fire didn't you."

Snotlout gave a meek little growl. Well…yes but wouldn't Hiccup have done the same?

As if he'd read his younger cousin's thoughts Hiccup sighed, "I wouldn't have burned all the training equipment in the process."

Snotlout grunted in response as Toothless took to the air and flew towards Berk.

* * *

 _ **PS-Snotlout, fire breath…yeah that wasn't going to end well first time. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.**_


	6. The Meatheads Arrive

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and here is a much longer chapter than normal. In this one the Meatheads arrive and Snotlout starts taking full advantage of his situation. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **The Meatheads Arrive**

As expected Snotlout did receive long lectures from both Hiccup and his uncle for his 'incident' in the arena and he spent the rest of the day stuck with Hiccup. He did however discover a lot more things about his dragon body and the longer he spent in it the easier things became, he mastered walking, running, climbing, his improved sense of smell, his fire breath (under Hiccup's strict supervision) and had even managed to ignite his fire coat once although it had been by accident (Ruffnut had tried to cuddle him again and he'd lit it in surprise when she'd snatched him up). It was like once he'd got a handle on walking everything else started to just fall into place as his human mind rapidly adjusted to its new body.

Some things were still beyond him such as flight and in all honesty Snotlout wasn't over eager to try flying. A part of him really wanted to but he didn't want to just throw himself into the air and hope for the best, when he'd first transformed he'd just wanted to flap his wings and go for it but then Hiccup pointed out he didn't have the instincts for flying so his eagerness had mellowed somewhat. Not that anyone was really pushing him to try and fly, Hiccup and Stoick weren't keen for him to attempt it out of protectiveness and Hookfang didn't seem to mind his dragon-shaped rider staying earth-bound. Toothless was the pushiest in that area now that he'd accepted that his rider's cousin was now a dragon. The Night Fury didn't see why someone with wings wouldn't use them and he'd started grumbling in discontent whenever Snotlout was put on his back to be flown somewhere and he was certain the dragon had subtly tried to tip him off in mid-air to force him into a flight attempt.

Other than that things were going well and no one had yet discovered that the abandoned baby Nightmare was actually Snotlout who was most certainly not quarantined in Gothi's hut with a highly contagious illness as everyone thought. On top of this Snotlout had discovered a tool at his disposal that was far more potent than even his fire breath.

He was apparently ridiculously cute.

All baby dragons were cute but it seemed that Snotlout had a whole new level of cuteness that caused many women (and a few men) to melt into puddles when he scurried past them as he followed Hiccup around, the effect only seemed to be enhanced if Hookfang was around as well and they saw the adult Nightmare along with his tiny double occasionally nuzzling his rider affectionately. He wasn't sure if it was the blue eyes that did it but that seemed to be the feature that most people commented on as they gushed over Berk's new baby dragon. Their affectionate words were usually accompanied by a fish or some other type of food that Snotlout was more than happy to snap up but he eventually ended up eating so much that he felt like one more fish would cause him to explode. He did take notes on how to capitalise on his cuteness for later situations as he discovered that tilting his head, enlarging his eyes and occasionally giving fake little sneezes turned people to putty in his claws letting him get away with murder as they said he looked far too innocent to cause any trouble. Hiccup told him he was completely shameless and being unbelievably manipulative but Snotlout had big plans for his new abilities which he was certain his cousin would appreciate very much.

Plans that were set to start when the Meatheads arrived.

* * *

As his uncle had said it was two days before Chief Mogadon arrived with members of his tribe to see the new dragon friendly Berk for themselves and Snotlout was with his uncle and Hiccup when they went to meet the Meatheads as they arrived.

It was quite the delegation who'd turned out to meet them but it was hardly surprising since Berk and the Meatheads had been allies for several generations. There were many family connections between the two tribes as well as long standing friendships so many people knew at least one other person from the other tribe. Most of the dragons had been kept away for the arrival, yes the Meatheads were here to see the dragons but it was considered better to introduce them slowly rather than thrusting a whole flock at them as soon as they disembarked. To this end the only dragons were Toothless, Hookfang and Snotlout (as far as everyone else was concerned). Of course Snotlout wasn't called Snotlout, instead he'd ended up being called Firefang which had come about because of his accident in the arena and the fact he looked like Hookfang (most were certain he was Hookfang's son or at least related somehow).

The Meathead ship drew alongside the dock and as soon as it was securely tied Mogadon strode off the ship to calling to Stoick warmly, "Stoick! Good to see you again!"

Mogadon was a Viking in a similar vein to Stoick, big, strong, with a booming voice and a considerable beard. If it wasn't for his brown hair he and Stoick could have been taken for brothers but then again they were related by blood. Stoick's aunt had married Mogadon's father and given birth to Mogadon so the two chiefs were cousins and it very much showed.

The two chiefs greeted each other raucously as they smacked each other on the back and Mogadon's eyes fell on Hiccup. Snotlout's cousin gave a friendly smile to the Meathead chief and offered his hand which Mogadon took and shook vigorously, "Good to see you again as well Hiccup! I hear you're quite the hero these days but I would expect nothing less from the son of Stoick."

His arm nearly shaken off, Hiccup extracted his hand as he answered, "Thank sir, it's great to have you back on Berk."

"Its great to be back." Mogadon looked around the mass of Berkians on the docks, "Where's Snotlout? I thought he'd be here to greet us as well."

Stoick put on a suitably worried expression as he gave the pre-planned answer, "Unfortunately Snotlout caught a horribly contagious disease a couple of days ago, Gothi had to quarantine him in her hut to stop it spreading and it may be some time before he's well again."

Mogadon's face fell and he clapped his hand on Stoick's shoulder apologetically, "A real shame that, poor lad but I'm sure he'll recover in no time. He's a Jorgenson after all and they seem to bounce back from aliments quicker than anyone, he'll be fit and healthy again before you know it."

Stoick gave a thankful smile and Snotlout wanted to applaud his uncle's acting skills, he sounded so genuine that he almost believed his uncle himself.

More people had been disembarking as the chiefs had spoken and Snotlout recognised most of them, some were Mogadon's most trusted men but about five of them were boys around nineteen or twenty. These were the ones who were or soon would be the Meathead's trainee fighters and were probably the intended recipients of Berk's dragon training knowledge, new skills for the next generation of the tribe's warriors.

With them was a girl a year or two younger who was Mogadon's daughter, Helen. Snotlout and Hiccup had met her several times before whenever their fathers had met for tribal business or other matters, she was a fairly friendly girl and could hold her own in fight though she didn't have much interest in being a warrior like Astrid and was content with more domestic tasks. She was built in a similar way to Astrid and had inherited her father's brown hair which was kept in a beautiful, single braid.

Behind her came Thuggory, her older brother and heir of the Meathead tribe. In contrast to his sister's friendliness he was imperious and snobby. He firmly believed that being the chief's son automatically made him better than anyone else and had the right to treat those who were 'inferior' however he wanted. This attitude had caused any time Hiccup and Snotlout spent with him to be very unpleasant and neither cousin liked him very much. Thuggory didn't consider Hiccup to be Berk's heir at all and he'd always treated him as a lower being provided neither chief was around to see him. This usually consisted of bullying and verbal abuse as well as making Hiccup do tasks for him and threatening him with violence if he refused to do so. Snotlout held even lower esteem with Thuggory and the other heir barely acknowledged his existence unless the younger boy had something he wanted or tried to defend his cousin. Both situations usually ended up with Snotlout bearing bruises or the occasional black eye which Thuggory then passed off as an accident or something that had been Snotlout's fault.

Now though Snotlout was currently thought of as a baby dragon and a host of possibilities had appeared.

Thuggory arrogantly strode over and greeted Stoick, at nineteen he'd pretty much reached physical maturity but he hadn't had the experience to sand him down and teach him proper maturity yet so he was overconfident. Combine that with his arrogance at his status and you had a pretty dangerous attitude to contend with. Of course he showed Stoick nothing but respect and although his greeting to Hiccup appeared friendly anyone looking really carefully could see it was anything but. Naturally Toothless was once such person and the Night Fury narrowed his eyes at the other heir clearly showing his dislike.

By this point Mogadon had focused on the point of this visit and he stared at Toothless in awe, "So this is the famous Night Fury we've heard so much about."

Leaving off glaring at Thuggory, Toothless sat up proudly well aware of his almost legendary status amongst other tribes. Hiccup patted his dragon's side his voice tinged with similar pride, "Yes, his name's Toothless and he was Berk's first trained dragon."

Of course the riders didn't really train their dragons, it was more forming a friendship than anything else, but it was the simplest way to describe what they did to others so they just went with it. Mogadon nodded in approval, "And an impressive dragon he is too." His eyes fell on Hookfang, "And who's that powerful creature."

Hookfang had come over when everyone's attention had fallen on him and Hiccup patted his snout, "This is Hookfang. He's a Monstrous Nightmare and Snotlout's dragon, I'm looking after him while Snotlout is ill."

Hoofang reared to his full height and briefly flared up his fire coat and Snotlout rolled his eyes.

Show off.

Deciding to make his presence known Snotlout ambled forward and gave one of his small roars. Mogadon looked down in surprise and Hiccup picked his transformed cousin up, "And this is Firefang, we found him abandoned not that long ago and as you can tell he's a baby Monstrous Nightmare."

There was a little squeal and Helen moved towards them, "He's so adorable!" She put out a hand and began giving Snotlout a scratch.

Snotlout wasn't quite sure what to do. Should he pull back, let it happen, try and…actually that felt rather nice. No wonder dragons liked being scratched so much, it was really relaxing.

Helen pulled her hand away and smiled, "He's lovely."

Thuggory snorted, "He looks like a pretty pathetic dragon to me."

Snotlout snorted. Of course Thuggory would say that. Stupid, egotistical twit.

"He's still just a baby Thuggory." Hiccup stated with a hint of annoyance, "When fully grown he'll be a similar size to Hookfang and Monstrous Nightmares are some of the most powerful dragons around."

Yeah! You tell him Hiccup!

Thuggory glared but didn't say anything else and Stoick cut into the conversation, "Why don't we head up to the Great Hall and eat. Then we can discuss exactly what we can show you."

Mogadon grinned at his fellow chief, "Lead on Stoick! I could eat an entire yak I'm so hungry."

The two chiefs strode off laughing and joking and Hiccup, Helen and Thuggory followed behind. Astrid joined them while the other riders followed with the rest of the Berkians and Snotlout scurried ahead after Hiccup had put him down. The moment Astrid joined the group Thuggory leaned towards her his eyes roaming over her in a way that very much suggested the route of his thoughts, "I don't believe I've met you before. What's your name beautiful?"

Snotlout had turned round to look at them when he'd heard Thuggory's tone a look of disbelief on his face. Seriously, did he actually just say that?

Hiccup had visibly gone on edge but Astrid's reply was cool and laced with displeasure, "Astrid."

Thuggory smirked, "Astrid huh? A gorgeous name for a gorgeous girl."

He actually thought that sort of talk would work with Astrid? He must be really stupid.

"So Astrid." Thuggory leaned closer, "You look like you're quite the fighter and I'm assuming you have a dragon of your own as well." He winked, "It's probably as pretty as you are."

Okay, it was time to intervene before Astrid reacted to Thuggory's blatant flirting by thumping him. Actually, going by Hiccup's expression it was time to intervene before his cousin got Toothless to burn him.

Snotlout scampered back towards the group and stopped right in front of Thuggory and looked up at him, the heir stopped walking and looked down at him.

Good, now for phase two. Tilt head…widen eyes…wag tail a bit.

Awws and squeals of delight indicated the look was working and Helen nudged her brother, "Look Thuggory! Firefang seems to really like you. You should pick him up!"

Thuggory looked uncertainly at the dragon at his feet but eventually crouched and held him at arm's length.

No! That wasn't going to do, he needed to be closer than that. Okay then…wave wings a bit and give a couple of plaintive squeaks.

Helen nudged her brother again, "C'mon brother! Hold him closer than that!"

Thuggory pulled Snotlout to his chest and the rider-turned-dragon hooked his wings into his shirt.

Excellent…now give a few purrs and a nuzzle or two and wait for Thuggory to try and take advantage of the situation.

As expected Thuggory did just that and turned to Astrid, "Hey Astrid, it looks like I have a way with dragons. If you're a rider as well maybe we could just head off by ourselves and do some 'serious training'."

And there was his cue!

Snotlout gave a familiar hacking/growl and promptly regurgitated his half-digested breakfast right onto Thuggory's shirt.

Now to finish off with an adorable look…followed by a sniff of Thuggory's shirt, a snort of disgust and a prompt exit of his arms.

As he landed back on the ground he heard Helen berating her brother, "Look what you did! You must have held him too tightly!"

Thuggory just stood in shock at what happened and Snotlout sauntered over to Hiccup who picked him up. His cousin was trying his best to hold back his laughter as was Astrid but those behind who'd seen what had happened weren't. Snotlout looked smugly up at Hiccup and the older cousin leaned down to mutter in his ear, "That was incredibly evil of you."

Snotlout put on his best innocent look. He had no idea what Hiccup was talking about, the whole thing had been completely unintentional. He was still getting used to this body and sometimes things happened by accident.

Hiccup smiled and muttered something else.

"Nice one."

* * *

 _ **PS-Yes that was incredibly evil of Snotlout but Thuggory deserved it. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.**_


	7. Academy

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and sorry for the long wait since last chapter but it has been Easter weekend so I haven't really had an opportunity to update. This chapter is the Meathead's first lesson with dragons and things go slightly wrong (naturally). Thank you for your continued support and to those who've been waiting on my sequel to 'Family of Fire' I'm hoping to post its first chapter tomorrow or, at latest, the day after, it will be called 'Family of Iron' so keep an eye out for it. I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **Academy**

After the little 'accident' with Thuggory the Meathead heir had tried to complain about the baby Nightmare to his father. Unfortunately for him his sister was convinced that it was her brother's fault and Mogadon agreed with her, on top of that Stoick didn't believe that Snotlout would've done something like that and with Snotlout looking adorably innocent and Hiccup backing up Helen there was no chance the chiefs would listen to Thuggory. This left the heir fuming all through the welcome feast with a shirt that now had the delightful smell of half-digested mutton. For everyone else the feast was a roaring success as friends shared old stories of battle, caught up on news from family and friends and generally had a good time.

Snotlout was showered with attention and food with a great deal coming from the young guys from the Meathead tribe, most likely because they'd suffered Thuggory's attitude for years and were pleased to see him getting some form of comeuppance (even if everyone thought it had been accidental). Of course he did have to actively avoid Helen who'd become so infatuated with his cuteness that she was desperate to cuddle and pet him all the time, between her and Ruffnut he now had double the trouble and more than once he had to retreat to the relative safety of Hookfang to get away from them. To his relief focus on him drastically reduced as everyone called for Hiccup to tell the story of how he befriended Toothless and defeated the Red Death and he had the whole hall listening with rapt attention even though most of them had heard it before. After this many of the Meatheads wanted to know more about training dragons and Snotlout sat sniggering as he watched Hiccup trying to fend them off.

Vikings being Vikings the feast lasted well into the night so it was agreed that they would begin on the main reason for the Meathead's visit the following morning.

* * *

Early the next day Hiccup and the other riders were standing ready in the Academy arena alongside their dragons while Snotlout watched from the side-lines from his perch on Hookfang's head.

They were waiting on the Meatheads to arrive for their first proper introduction to dragons and it wasn't long before they began filing in. Mogadon, as expected, was the first to arrive with Thuggory striding confidently alongside him and Helen almost skipping in with excitement. It was the young lads who came next, their voices loud and boisterous, and the few older warriors Mogadon had brought were close behind.

They all ambled in and roughly formed a line before the five riders, once they were all present Hiccup clapped his hands, "Okay then. This is our Dragon Training Academy." He gestured to the surrounding arena and then to the dragons, "And these are some of the best examples of the dragon breeds you'll find around Berk and many other places. I know all of you know what these breeds are but I'll just quickly run some of their traits which you don't really pick up when trying to kill them."

From there he began a swift run through of each of the dragons and their main features and Snotlout supressed a yawn, he knew it was best to start right from the basics but it was boring to listen to when you already knew it. He surveyed the Meatheads to gauge their reactions. Most were listening to Hiccup's words although a couple were impatient for him to finish. Helen was listening with rapt attention her face beaming at all the information Hiccup was giving, if she had been scribbling in a book at the same time then the similarities to how Fishlegs looked when he discovered new information about dragons would have been humorously uncanny. Thuggory wasn't paying any attention whatsoever and Snotlout unintentionally gave an irritated growl, no doubt the Meathead's heir had decided that nothing Hiccup told him was worth listening too and just wasn't bothering. Snotlout smirked slightly knowing that doing so would come back and bite Thuggory later (potentially quite literally) but he focused his attention back on Hiccup when he realised he'd moved onto the Monstrous Nightmare.

"And you've all already seen Hookfang who's Snotlout's Monstrous Nightmare. Nightmares are one of the most powerful breeds." There was a disgruntled snort from Toothless, "Though Night Furies are likely more powerful." The dragon gave a satisfied grunt at Hiccup's amendment and the boy rolled his eyes at his prideful dragon as he carried on, "However Nightmares can be one of the most difficult dragon breeds to form a bond with. They are very proud and independent so showing them respect is essential, you don't show them respect they won't show you respect. We have had a few incidents where some Vikings tried to act as the alpha towards them like you would with dogs, this is the last thing you want to do with a Nightmare as it immediately classes you as a rival in their eyes and Nightmares don't like to lose to a rival. These Vikings often ended up floored by the dragon's tail or sent flying by a wing blast, one man nearly got himself burnt alive when he really upset the Nightmare he was trying to approach." There were a few murmurings among the Meatheads but Hiccup gave them a small smile, "That being said, once you've bonded with a Nightmare that bond is hard to break. Like most dragons they are very loyal to someone they consider worthy of them and although they have sulks and tantrums with their rider they always come to their aid if required and if you're the one that's the cause of their rider's distress then you better hope you have your place booked in Valhalla. Chances of surviving an attack from a seriously hacked off Monstrous Nightmare are pretty much non-existent."

Snotlout had to quickly adjust his balance as Hookfang raised his head proudly and he grumbled at his dragon. Hookfang paid him no attention and basked in the awed gazes of the Meatheads before they refocused back on Hiccup who continued the introductions. Now that the basics of each dragon were out the way Hiccup let the Meatheads approach some of the Academy dragons and their riders answered any further questions about their respective dragon (though the reliability of the twin's answers was questionable). It mostly went on without any issues and it was largely the younger tribe members who were actually approaching the dragons while the older warriors stayed back and watched. A couple approached too eagerly and accidently spooked Stormfly causing her to fire some spines but Astrid swiftly calmed her and Hiccup reminded them about the Nadder's blind spot and they approached again with more success. They left Hookfang be because although more than one of them had looked at the Monstrous Nightmare enviously Hiccup had said he already belonged to Snotlout and there was no way Hookfang was going to take to anyone else in his rider's absence. Of course Thuggory didn't care about this and had decided he knew better than Hiccup anyway so while the others were focusing on the other four dragons he'd walked straight over to where Snotlout and Hookfang were.

Attention off him now, Hookfang had settled himself down for one of his commonplace naps and Snotlout had scrambled off the Nightmare and was debating about going to join the others or staying where he was to watch things unfold. He saw Thuggory swaggering towards them and he stared at the Meathead heir warily. For his part Thuggory gave him a brief look of disgust before focusing on Hookfang and Snotlout's eyes narrowed.

He wasn't actually going to try what he thought he was?

Thuggory grinned cockily at the Nightmare, "Looks like Snotlout got himself quite the dragon." Hookfang raised his head and eyed the young man, he then gave a dismissive snort and put his head down again pointedly looking away from the young heir. Thuggory's grin simply grew wider, "I can't believe someone like Snotlout has a dragon like you. You deserve to belong to someone like me not a feeble nobody like him."

At his words Snotlout gave a quiet growl. Thuggory was actually planning to take Hookfang from him like he'd taken a lot of other things from him over the years. Now taking his food and toys had been bad enough but trying to take his dragon was a whole new level and he had no intention of letting Thuggory get away with it, even though he was certain Hookfang would never ditch him and partner up with Thuggory.

He stalked towards the man but Thuggory didn't notice and moved closer to Hookfang, at his approach Hookfang immediately raised his head again and moved into a defensive position and growled warningly. Thuggory stopped but his arrogance was still very evident, "I'm the heir of the Meathead tribe so I'm the only one who deserves a dragon as powerful as you!"

Apparently Thuggory thought that dragons would all roll over when faced with his status like many humans.

Snotlout snorted.

Well that was never going to happen. Hookfang didn't listen to anyone he didn't want to and dragons didn't care about the status of different humans, it made no difference to whether they liked you or not and right now Hookfang certainly didn't like Thuggory.

Hookfang's growl grew louder showing exactly what he thought of the young heir and the young man folded his arms imperiously, "I'm your master now dragon so stop your growling!"

He strode towards the Nightmare clearly intending to force Hookfang into submission and Snotlout saw red.

No-one was going to mistreat Hookfang when he was around!

He shot forward and threw himself at Thuggory's leg and bit down hard. Thuggory yelped in pain as Snotlout's curved teeth sunk in and he used his other foot to kick him off his leg. Snotlout felt it strike him in the side and he was booted away onto the arena floor with a pained yelp of his own but it was far from over.

The minute Thuggory struck Snotlout, Hookfang pounced with a roar of anger and the Meathead's heir only just avoided the Nightmare's fangs. Hookfang roared again and protectively stood over his rider-turned-dragon his eyes blazing with fury. This wasn't all because the commotion had instantly alerted everyone else and Snotlout's yelp had the other dragons swooping in to aid him even if they didn't know exactly what had happened. Toothless was there first and he put himself directly between Hookfang and Thuggory, he roared at the Nightmare stopping him from launching his fire breath at the young man but the Night Fury glared at Thuggory furiously making it quite clear whose side he was on. The other dragons gathered alongside the Night Fury looking menacing (Barf had already begun breathing his gas ready to use) but soon their respective riders intervened and calmed the dragons down.

Hookfang gathered Snotlout under his wings and continued to growl at the one who'd started the whole thing as Hiccup saw the wound on Thuggory's leg and hazarded a fairly accurate guess at what happened. Thuggory was livid and pointed viciously in Snotlout's direction, "That runt of a dragon is a vicious brute. Look what he did to my leg!"

He gestured to his wounded limb expecting his father to agree with him. However he hadn't reckoned on Hiccup being far more confident than he had been in the past and he spoke in a calm voice laced with anger, "Dragons don't attack unless desperate for food or they feel that you're endangering them in some way. I'm willing to bet that what actually happened was that you ignored everything I said and tried to take Hookfang even though he's already Snotlout's dragon." Thuggory looked ready to argue but Hiccup didn't let him, "Yes, you tried to take Hookfang the same way you've taken a lot of things from Snotlout. Firefang then saw you as a threat and reacted accordingly, you then struck him in some way which angered Hookfang and he attacked to defend him. That riled up the other dragons as they instinctively moved to protect one of their own and if we hadn't calmed them in time things would've gotten a lot worse. In short by ignoring everything I said you endangered yourself and everyone in this arena!"

Thuggory looked shocked at Hiccup's furious rebuttal but soon recovered. He made to answer back but his father cut across him, "Thuggory!"

The nineteen year old winced at his father's tone and looked down, Mogadon spoke again curtly, "Come with me right now. I need to speak with you."

He meekly obeyed and followed the Meathead's chief and they left in silence. Once they'd vanished Hiccup sighed, "We best leave it there today and pick up again tomorrow, give the dragons time to calm down again. If you have any questions then any of us riders should be able to help you. Other than that be here tomorrow at the same time."

The Meatheads shuffled out discussing what had happened and Hiccup gestured for the other riders to follow them, they did as he asked knowing that Hookfang was still upset and Hiccup was the only one who could calm him down at the moment.

With the arena now empty Hiccup approached Hookfang and the Nightmare opened his wings to let the boy look at the boy-turned-dragon beneath them. Snotlout was spitting out some of Thuggory's blood that had entered his mouth when he'd bitten him and Hiccup spoke to him, "Are you okay?"

Getting rid of the last of the blood Snotlout nodded. His side felt a little bruised but Thuggory had inflicted worse on him before and he'd done a fair bit of damage to the man so he'd come off far better.

Hiccup gave another sigh, "Well we should probably tell dad what happened."

Snotlout grumbled in uncertainty but Hiccup smiled reassuringly, "I'm pretty certain what Thuggory attempted to do and you stopped him. Dad will understand."

Snotlout still wasn't sure but he came out from beneath Hookfang and scurried ahead of Hiccup as they made their way towards their house.

* * *

 _ **PS-Some slight drama in the Academy there and a near miss for Thuggory. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.**_


	8. The Trials of Cuteness

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and welcome to the eighth chapter. No Thuggory this time around but Snotlout still has to deal with a particular difficulty of his new body. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **The Trials of Cuteness**

They saw very little of Thuggory over the next few days and Hiccup's dragon training lessons with the Meatheads were much better off for it.

They didn't know the details but it seemed that Mogadon's 'talk' with his son involved a pair of boxed ears for the nineteen year old and a ban from attending Hiccup's lessons or trying to approach any of Berk's dragons for the foreseeable future. The dragons themselves had doled out their own brand of justice and the Terrors in particular had great fun tormenting the Meathead heir in a variety of different ways (the burning fish shower had been particularly entertaining). Of course this left Thuggory in a constant bad temper but no-one really cared to give him any sympathy and just ignored him.

Snotlout now found himself being coddled by pretty much all the dragons and they made sure he was never left alone at any time, in a way he was grateful because he could tell Thuggory was determined to have vengeance upon him but being overly mothered by dragons was a bit awkward and occasionally embarrassing. The worst had been when Hookfang suddenly decided that he needed a bath and attempted to give him one right in the middle of one of Hiccup's lessons. He'd tried desperately to escape his dragon's clutches but then Stormfly and Meatlug had ganged up on him and the three of them set about licking him clean. He'd appealed to Toothless for help but the Night Fury had actually smirked and just watched everything unfold along with everyone else. Hiccup of course found the whole thing hilarious and Helen and Ruffnut melted in glee, the others giggled and in the end Snotlout gave in though he did so with very bad grace and mentally plotted dire repercussions for them all.

However it was a day or two after this when he really lost all his pride and began contemplating murder.

* * *

With all the Meatheads learning about dragons Hiccup didn't really have a lot of time spare to really keep a proper eye on Snotlout. This didn't usually matter as Hookfang was with him most of the time but there was one day when he'd actually been required to help with a restock of their fish supplies. Dragons were expert fishers and Hookfang excelled in scaring fish shoals straight towards the nets of Berk's fishermen, normally they managed fine without him but they'd recently burnt through their stores far quicker than planned so Stoick had reluctantly sent Hookfang out to help them. Of course Snotlout could've just gone with them but they were heading pretty far out and Stoick was reluctant to let his nephew go far from Berk due to his current situation. Unfortunately Hiccup was also away from Berk prepping something for the Meatheads continuing lessons with dragons so he wasn't around either and Stoick had a big meeting with Mogadon and the village council which Snotlout couldn't sit in on so he couldn't keep an eye on him either. In the end they decided to leave him with Meatlug who was really the only available person or dragon around that could be trusted, all the dragons were protective of children, both human and dragon, and Hookfang himself had left Snotlout in Meatlug's care before when he'd vanished off to do something else so they were certain he'd be quite safe with the Gronckle.

Snotlout was going to hold it against them for a long time.

It had started out fine, Snotlout and Meatlug were both quite happy to nap the afternoon away in the sun and that was all they had on the agenda with maybe a snack or two interspersed throughout. Fortune had other plans however and Snotlout wished it had just butted out of his day.

Snotlout was peacefully curled up on top of a dozing Meatlug (who had an incredibly comfortable back) when he heard footsteps approach and picked up a familiar scent that had him instantly alert. His head shot up and he saw both Helen and Ruffnut approaching together.

Now normally the two girls had such different interests they wouldn't ever hang out as they had very little in common. In recent days though they'd discovered a common interest that was enough to unite them.

Namely him.

Largely he'd managed to avoid their affections for his cuteness but he now realised he had no plan to escape a Ruffnut/Helen team up. He tried to wake Meatlug below him fully intending to take cover beneath her but the girls were coming up fast and too late he decided to make a run for it. Helen swept him into her arms and held him close.

Too close! He did not want his face buried _there_ thank you very much. Yes he was a guy but he had boundaries for these things.

Usually Hookfang or Toothless would have plucked him from Helen's arms by now and shielded him from any further cuddles but neither of them were present and Meatlug was not supplying a rescue. He managed to turn his head far enough to see why not and found the Gronckle rolling around the floor happily as Ruffnut smothered her with fuss and attention.

Now that was cheating!

Helen squeezed him tight, "Ooh you're such an adorable little dragon aren't you?"

Yuck!

"And you have just the cutest blue eyes, they make you look such beautiful little fellow!"

How about he regurgitates on her dress, would she find that beautiful?

She began tickling his nose with her finger, "Who's a beautiful little dragon? Yes you are, yes you are!"

Oh Thor, make it stop!

She held him at arm's length, "And I think we can make you even cuter."

Wait, what?

Helen cuddled him once more and began walking away speaking to Meatlug, "And I'm sure we can make you look even more beautiful as well Meatlug."

Why are you getting up Meatlug? Don't listen to them and save me!

Completely ignoring Snotlout's desires the Gronckle happily got up and began walking with the girls eager for whatever they had planned forcing Snotlout to resign himself to his fate.

Curse you Meatllug, curse you!

* * *

He's was going to kill them, he was going to kill them both!

Unaware of Snotlout's murderous thoughts the two girls continued with their…well…girlyness. They'd already scrubbed him thoroughly in a tub filled with water and something flowery and now they had moved onto accessorizing. He'd tried to escape several times but one of them always had a firm grip on him so he made little headway.

Surely the fact they had to hold him down indicated he was not enjoying himself…at all.

There was a variety of fabrics scattered around the room (which was apparently the one Helen was staying in while she was on Berk) and the two girls were seriously considering their options. Ruffnut was surprisingly enjoying herself and seemed to have a flair for fashion.

"You know I've never really had a chance to be girly like this."

Helen looked up from a particularly bright shade of green cloth at the female twin, "Really? Why not?"

"Well mostly because I never saw the point of getting hung up about my looks all the time but some of was due to the fact me and Tuff do everything together. Mum doesn't exactly care about her looks very much either so I guess I just assumed I'd hate doing something like this."

"I don't usually bother doing things like this either." Helen stated, "But it is nice to do it from time to time."

"I know. I should do this more often!"

Well at least Ruffnut was having fun. Whoopee for her.

They'd now begun working with the fabric occasionally measuring things against Meatlug who was loving every minute of this heinous torture. They settled for a nice ribbon of deep green which they put around the Gronckle's neck tying it in a fetching bow at the top. Meatlug looked particularly happy at her new addition and wagged her tail joyfully as Helen smiled, "I don't think Meatlug needs anything else do you?"

"Nah." Ruffnut agreed, "That looks just perfect and I bet Fishlegs will love it."

Their focus turned back upon Snotlout who'd been sneaking towards the door and Ruffnut pulled him back, "Now for this little guy."

Helen had been rooting through the fabric again and she held an item up, "How about this?"

Pink! PINK!? He was a boy! Why would you use _pink_!?

Snotlout's struggles began anew and Ruffnut looked down at him squirming in her arms, "Look how excited he is!"

This wasn't excitement, this was desperation.

Helen cooed, "It looks like it'll be this one then."

No it wasn't. There was no way they were going to put that on him. He was not wearing a pink bow, he just wasn't and there was no way they were going to…Thor help him!

In one motion Helen had tied the bow neatly and securely around his neck and Snotlout wailed in despair as the two girls squealed in joy.

The gods hated him!

* * *

It was a very sullen Snotlout who was carried by Ruffnut through Berk.

They'd finished off his accessorizing with a smaller bow on each horn and a third on his tail, all in pink. Ruffnut and Helen thought he was adorable but Snotlout felt like an absolute numpty and wanted nothing more than to sink into the earth never to be seen again. Of course that wasn't going to happen any time soon so he had to suffer.

Everyone they went past noticed his new 'look' and many girls and women cooed over him while the rest giggled, even the dragons sniggered and Snotlout mentally heaped abuse upon them all. Then to his horror they approached the village square where all the other riders were gathered along with their dragons and he tried to escape before they noticed. Ruffnut had too tight a hold of him however and he lamented his situation as she walked right up to them and held Snotlout up proudly, "Look how cute Firefang is now!"

If he wasn't so sulky and embarrassed Snotlout might've laughed at the other's expressions which were absolutely priceless.

Fishlegs was completely stunned and his jaw had dropped so far open it looked like it was going to fall off, Astrid's jaw hadn't dropped but her eyes were so wide they were almost falling out, Hiccup's eyebrow was raised and his mouth was open slightly in the textbook 'what the heck' expression and Tuffnut had simply broken as his brain gave up and took a vacation at the thought of his sister doing something girly.

Snotlout glared at them all and there was a deathly hush until Toothless broke into roaring draconic laughter and actually fell to the ground in merriment, Hiccup soon joined his friend his friend and there was tears pouring down as he leaned on the Night Fury for support. Astrid gave a smile and began fawning over Snotlout as Fishlegs was distracted by Meatlug showing off her new ribbon and he showered her with fuss and attention. Other Vikings joined the crowd and Snotlout was passed between arms as every female in the village cuddled and cooed over him. Hiccup and Toothless' laughter continued, then Hookfang joined them as did the other dragons and Snotlout scowled.

That was it! There was going to be repercussions for this! Oh there'd be repercussions!

Eventually everything settled down and people wandered away. Fishlegs and Astrid headed home and Ruffnut gently led away her brother who was still frozen in shock. Helen returned to where she was staying and Hiccup picked up the murderous Snotlout still grinning. Snotlout refused to look at him and instead glared at everything before him as if trying to set it ablaze through the power of vengeful thoughts, Hiccup then muttered to his cousin, "That look suits Snotlout."

Snotlout's eyes narrowed. He now had his first target for his vengeance.

* * *

 _ **PS-The joys of being extremely cute. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.**_


	9. Revenge

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and welcome to the next chapter. No Thuggory in this chapter once again but we see Snotlout's revenge for his embarrassment last chapter. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **Revenge**

Stoick had been more than a little shocked to see what had happened to his draconic nephew and he'd become Snotlout's new favourite person when he instantly removed all of the embarrassing ribbons. His uncle had been the about the only person who hadn't laughed or cooed at his unwanted additions and he was forever thankful to him for it. However Hiccup was another story and Snotlout was going to get revenge on his cousin one way or another.

He smirked. He knew just how to do it.

* * *

The next day Snotlout made sure he was up bright and early and ready to go to his morning check-up at Gothi's.

The elder had been working to sort out his transformation ever since she'd been told about it but had made little headway, the daily check-up was a part of her research and a way of making sure nothing else cropped up. The check-up consisted of a basic once over for any indication that the spell was wearing off naturally but it wasn't the examination Snotlout was concerned with.

It was the training session afterwards that he had plans for.

It was going to be the Meathead's first flight and they would be flying on the academy dragons under the guidance of Berk's riders. This left a lot of opportunity for causing trouble and Snotlout had thought of an idea that would cause maximum effect.

Hiccup was up just as early as his cousin and though surprised at Snotlout being awake so early he started the day as normal. After breakfast they headed straight to Gothi's where the woman gave him the once over and stated that his condition hadn't changed and she was still looking into a way to fix it. From there they went to the Academy and after a briefing from Hiccup the flight began.

The older Meathead were not so fussed with flying dragons so they remained behind meaning it was the five lads and Helen who went up which required a bit of careful planning as that was too many for one on each dragon. Hookfang of course wasn't carrying anyone (except Snotlout who was coming along for the ride) so in the end Barf and Belch ended up with three extra passengers (one behind each of the twins and another on their back) while the others took one extra. Toothless and Hiccup led the group with one of the lads and Helen had ended up sat behind Ruffnut and Snotlout could hear the two girls plotting another dress up session for him.

Well he was certainly not going to let that happen again even if it meant setting fire to them!

The dragons flew lazily into the air and Hookfang followed behind the group with Snotlout perched between his horns, a most suitable riding spot for his dragon body which only worked because of his small size. After a few simple manoeuvres they began letting the dragons do more tricks and quicker flying and most of the Meatheads loved the sensation of riding a dragon, though the one on Stormfly was looking a bit green.

It was after this when the dragons had returned to flying in loose formation that Snotlout initiated his scheme.

Everyone was largely at ease and Hookfang had moved to beside Toothless at the front of the group which created the perfect stage for Snotlout's plan. He'd stayed securely perched on Hookfang's head throughout the flight and had seen Hiccup regularly checking he was alright and Helen and Ruffnut had been noticeably concerned about him riding on Hookfang so high up.

Now to completely freak them out.

Without warning Snotlout released his grip on Hookfang's horns, turned and jumped off the Nightmare's head and into the empty air.

Now Hiccup had explained before they took off that Firefang (aka Snotlout) couldn't fly yet because he was a baby which was the excuse they'd been using for him not flying. This meant that having a baby dragon who couldn't fly yet spontaneously leaping off an adult dragon's back while said adult was a couple of hundred feet in the air was a cause for serious concern. The reaction to Snotlout's sudden skydive was both instantaneous and dramatic.

Exactly what he wanted.

Miliseconds after he jumped he heard Helen scream and Hiccup give a shocked cry before commanding Toothless to dive after him. This was quickly followed by gasps from the riders and shocked roars from the dragons. As one all the dragons dived after the falling Snotlout without giving their riders warning or any commands.

The leisurely flight deteriorated into a dive-bomb race which was incredibly entertaining. Fishlegs, Helen and the Meathead on Toothless were giving the most incredible screams with the two males reaching a pitch Snotlout didn't know was possible for a guy. The one on Stormfly had a white-knuckled death grip on Astrid's shoulders and was most definitely green while the ones on Meatlug and Barf and Belch had screwed their eyes tightly shut.

Snotlout himself was quite relaxed as he fell backwards looking up at them diving after him though he kept a careful eye on how close to the ground he was. He'd naturally chosen to jump off while above the largest collection of pointy rocks Berk had to offer just to add to the drama and boy did it work.

He watched the dive-bombers above him.

The panicked expressions on their faces were just perfect, everything he was hoping achieve with this. Now Hiccup and Toothless were catching up fast, well within the safety margins as well but then nothing could match a Night Fury's speed while diving. He'd have to time this just right to finish off his plan perfectly so he'd better start counting…3…2…1…NOW!

With Toothless just inches away Snotlout turned in the air, snapped open his wings and glided gracefully away with excellent control.

Perfect! Just at the right moment.

He glanced back behind him and saw that all the others had pulled out of their dives and he smirked at their expressions. Hiccup was completely stunned and the Meathead riding with him was breathing heavily his face locked in an expression of terror, Fishlegs and Helen were similar to him and the Meathead on Stormfly was obviously trying not to throw up. The rest had a variety of shocked faces which only got more shocked when Snotlout flew effortlessly back to and then around them.

Oh that was good. He got them all. Now if only there was a way to preserve the last few moments so he could relive it properly all over again. Not a single one of them knew he'd secretly been learning to fly the last few days until that moment.

Hookfang lazily joined them chortling, he'd not taken part in the dive because he knew full well that his rider-turned-dragon could fly just fine having been his teacher of sorts for the last few days. Snotlout had only mastered flight the day before yesterday and had been waiting for the right moment to reveal his new ability. He'd been learning in secret because he knew his uncle and Hiccup would've either tried to stop him or got involved and he was sure he made far quicker progress learning off Hookfang instead of working through several of Hiccup's ideas.

As Snotlout flew around the group he saw that Hiccup had finally recovered from his shock and was now glaring at him.

Well that's what he got for laughing at him yesterday.

Helen had also recovered and was naturally cooing over him again, "Oh look! Firefang has learned to fly all by himself. He's such a clever little dragon."

Fishlegs had gone from terrified to full dragon geek mode, "He's really got the hang of flying but I don't remember seeing him being taught by any of the other dragons. Did he learn through watching the other dragons, instinct or both?"

Astrid smiled, "I don't know but he's certainly good at it."

Snotlout growled happily. Yeah he was pretty awesome and he was the only rider who could claim he'd properly flown. Hiccup may be the first Viking to befriend them but he was the first Viking to fly like an actual dragon. It made all the terrible first attempts and crashes worth it. Now for some fun.

He quickly nipped towards Fishlegs and smoothly grabbed the boy's helmet off his head and flew away grinning mischievously. Fishlegs gave a surprised cry, "HEY!"

Snotlout turned in the air to clearly display his stolen cargo. If you want it Fishlegs, then come and get it.

Fishlegs unknowingly obliged to Snotlout's thoughts and he flew Meatlug forwards. Snotlout flew out of his way and soon the game of chase began, it wasn't long before the others joined in (though Astrid dropped her sickly passenger off on the ground before joining the game) and for the rest of the day fun was had by all except the Meathead vomiting in the bushes.

* * *

 _ **PS-So Snotlout can now fly and Thuggory will return next chapter. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.**_


	10. Terror Shopping

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and as I said last chapter Thuggory is back in this one though it is a fairly small part. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **Terror Shopping**

Naturally Hiccup hadn't been happy with Snotlout learning to fly without telling anyone but when he tried to give his younger cousin one of his famous lectures the dragon-boy simply flew away before he could. In the end Hiccup gave up but it was obvious that he wasn't satisfied. Snotlout himself was completely unrepentant and the whole issue eventually faded away as teaching the Meatheads took priority, especially when Thuggory reappeared.

By this time the classes had largely become just for the younger Meatheads. The older ones knew how to approach and calm dragons but they weren't interested in bonding with one or flying so they no longer needed to attend. Those that remained were eager to have their own dragons and had already thought about which type they'd like.

Monstrous Nightmare was the choice for most as they were considered the most warrior like of the dragon species (barring the Night Fury but Toothless was the only one they knew about) and they all clearly remembered Hookfang's ferocity when dealing with Thuggory. The lad who'd thrown up while on his first flight actually preferred a Gronckle because he'd flown on Meatlug and found her slower flight speed to be much more agreeable with his stomach while Helen was still undecided.

Because of this Hiccup had decided that the next couple of days would be spent having the Meatheads approach wild dragons allowing them to compare different dragons before sending them out to befriend their own. It was during the first of these lessons that Thuggory returned.

* * *

He arrived clearly intending to make Hiccup look bad in an attempt to regain some authority and to get revenge on Snotlout in some way. Unfortunately one of the ways he was attempting this was by questioning Hiccup on Snotlout's whereabouts which was the last thing they wanted him to do.

For the moment their story that Snotlout was really ill was working but the longer Snotlout spent as a dragon the weaker the story became. Of course the other teens had asked at least once each day how Snotlout was doing but now they were also getting suspicious and were asking if they could see him. Naturally this was impossible since he was a dragon and not ill in bed but they couldn't tell them that, telling them the truth now could cause all sorts of problems and if the Meatheads found out it could get so much worse. They may be learning to understand and befriend dragons but a human turning into one was another matter entirely and could undo everything they'd managed to achieve.

Hiccup managed to give satisfactory answers to Thuggory's questioning but the other heir clearly wasn't convinced and Snotlout made a mental note to keep an eye on him. Hiccup sent the other Meatheads off before turning to Thuggory, "I thought you were banned from attending dragon training lessons?"

The Meathead heir sneered, "I wasn't banned from the arena weakling. I was just waiting for you idiots to finish so I could do some weapon training." He winked at Astrid, "You can join me if you want sweet cheeks."

Snotlout gave a realistic gagging sound and Astrid smiled sweetly, "Sorry Thuggory but I've already done my training for today. Besides me and Hiccup need to keep an eye on the others from your tribe, we don't want to miss them training their dragons."

Snotlout smirked as she enhanced this statement by linking her arm through Hiccup's and walking with him towards Stormfly and Toothless.

Hmm…Thuggory appeared to be turning purple and that was a death glare and a half. Though he was pretty sure…yep…Toothless' glare was far more impressive and…oh…Stormfly could give a pretty good one as well. Good luck matching that Thuggory.

The Meathead heir turned away from them and began setting up training targets as the Riders mounted their dragons and took to the air. Snotlout was right alongside them taking every opportunity to fly now that he was pretty much an expert at it. He did a couple of lazy rolls around Toothless and the Night Fury warbled at him, he was sticking close to Hiccup today as Hookfang had decided he wanted a lazy day and was napping outside the house. This also meant that Stormfly wanted to stick close as well since the Nadder had apparently decided that she was to be acting 'Mom' in Hookfang's absence. It wasn't that much of a problem but Astrid had to either spend all her time with them or leave her dragon behind if she went to do something else so she'd opted for the former.

He was pretty certain that she was actually quite pleased to spend most of the day with Hiccup. Not that his older cousin realised this and he despaired at Hiccup's wariness when it came to his feelings for Astrid. Honestly she made her own feelings pretty clear when Hiccup had woken up after the Red Death and although there was that massive relationship issue they had with all the teens at Thawfest things had largely settled down and they'd become proper friends again.

Snotlout spotted a flock of Terrors and a mischievous grin spread across his face. Hiccup saw it and tried to stop him, "Firefang, no!"

Sorry Hiccup but this was a brilliant opportunity.

He folded his wings and swiftly dived towards the Terrors and fired a brief burst of flame towards them. They quickly dodged it but he wasn't aiming to hit any of them, just rile them up a bit. As planned the Terrors swarmed towards him angrily and he shot off away from them. He heard Stormfly squawking in alarm behind him but it quickly faded as he zipped away amongst Berk's houses. Vikings were taken by surprise as the baby Nightmare flew by followed by a flock of Terrors and more than a few items were thrown into the air in shock. Snotlout then saw Mildew and he grinned maliciously.

Time to pay him back for trying to get rid of their dragons.

Flying towards the man he gave a small roar causing the man to turn, he dived low and zipped neatly between Mildew's legs. The man had just enough time to realise what happened before the flock of Terrors struck. Mildew spun comically as the dragons flew past and he ended up sat on the floor in a daze and Snotlout gave a short bark of laughter.

Score! Now to return his attention to his master plan.

Though it looked random Snotlout was actually leading the Terrors in a very specific direction and it wasn't long before he nipped over the edge of the cliffs and was diving towards the docks. As hoped some of their fishing boats were in with a full catch which they were in the process of unloading and one of them was Borik Ingerman's.

Oh this was just perfect.

Leveling off, Snotlout zoomed above the docks right towards where Borik was just unloading one of the nets. Within seconds Snotlout was right with him and he flew just over the man's head causing him to drop the net with a yell of alarm. Its contents exploded all over the docks and the huge pile of fish instantly caught the attention of the Terrors who set about devouring it. Borik tried to get them away and defend his catch but the Terrors were having none of it and soon the docks were in an uproar as Borik and the Terrors fought fiercely over their rights to the fish.

Peering out from under a net where he'd taken refuge, Snotlout grinned delightedly at the results of his plan before sneaking out and flying unnoticed over to one of the barrels.

He normally couldn't get fish straight from the barrels but with everyone distracted by the commotion he could peruse all the available fish at his leisure. Now let's see…too small…too big…didn't like that kind…ah there it was! Small enough to carry off and eat in hiding but big enough to be satisfactory and with the right degree of taste.

He plucked out his chosen reward and flew away to find a small corner to eat his prize.

* * *

Snotlout gave a satisfied grunt as he swallowed the last of his procured snack.

If he'd just gone down to the docks and looked cute he would had have been given a lot more fish but he'd discovered that he was usually given tiny, low quality fish and he'd decided that having one really good sized, good quality fish was better than having several tiny, poor ones.

That's why he'd opted for pilfering his fish this time and when he'd spotted the Terrors he'd seen a really good way to gain time to pick out the one he wanted. He had no intention of making a habit of this but he'd been craving a decent, freshly caught fish that day so he'd gone for stealing it.

He sniffed the remains of the fish (which largely consisted of the spine attached to the head and tail) to check that he'd got all the meat and discovered he had. He licked his lips then eyed the leftovers.

He should probably get rid of those.

Picking them up in his claws he flew out of his hidey-hole and towards where they dumped leftover food to be burnt. As he flew over the village he noticed Thuggory walking below him. He saw the Meathead heir stop beside where the twin's mother was sitting with an open book and a charcoal pencil scribbling inside it.

She was in the middle of writing a song as she often liked to do and Snotlout had often seen and heard her doing so. She was regarded as the best singer in the whole village and she'd taught Snotlout how to sing and play his mother's harp and she often told him he had rare musical talent. He'd heard similar things from the others but it was only recently that he'd been more open about his musical gifts having been worried that they would be considered 'unvikingly'.

Thuggory said something to her and Snotlout saw her stiffen. He couldn't hear what Thuggory had said but he'd bet it had something to do with her voice and was most likely a negative comment. Mrs Thorston stood abruptly and it was clear she was pretty upset and Snotlout felt angry.

It was time to teach Thuggory to respect her musical talent.

Swooping down silently he prepared himself.

Carefully…carefully…he had to get the angle just right or it wouldn't work. A bit lower…that was it…now to time it…3…2…1…release and…BULLSEYE! Right in the face! How do you like that Thuggory!?

The Meathead heir gave a shout of outrage as he pulled the remains of Snotlout's fish bomb off his face and Mrs Thorston laughed out loud along with those around them. Snotlout smirked before flying off unnoticed.

It had been quite a successful day provided his uncle didn't hear about his escapade with the Terrors.

He approached the house and saw his uncle standing outside it waiting for him and the look on his face made it very clear that he knew all about Snotlout's shenanigans that day.

Uh-oh.

* * *

 _ **PS-Busted! I'll probably move along with the story's plot a bit next chapter but we'll see. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.**_


	11. Unexpected Turn

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello all and welcome to this chapter which marks a leap in the plot. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **Unexpected Turn**

Stoick had not been amused by Snotlout's antics and the boy was suitably chastened by his uncle's angry words. The chief kept a very close eye on his nephew and Snotlout was the model of good behaviour for the next couple of days. Stormfly had been entirely unamused by his stunt and after his uncle's lecture he found himself sitting through what he assumed was another one from her. It was all roars and growls so he didn't know what she said but he got the general feeling behind it. Three days later, once his uncle trusted him enough to left on his own again, Snotlout was out at the Cove with just Hiccup for company.

Toothless and Hookfang were off playing in the forest somewhere and the other Riders were otherwise occupied with doing some final training with the Meatheads. The next day was when their guests were supposed to be befriending their first dragon so Astrid had convinced Hiccup to take some time off before what could be a very busy day. It had taken some effort and a bit of help from Snotlout (by way of completely abusing his cuteness) but his cousin had finally agreed to spend some time at the Cove and rest for a bit. Snotlout had gone with him partly to make sure he did take time off and partly because he had little better to do and the two cousins were enjoying a lazy day.

Of course this was when Thuggory chose to show up.

The Meathead's heir strode into the Cove with his usual air of superiority and Snotlout growled warningly. Hiccup faced Thuggory and stared at him levelly, "What do you want Thuggory?"

The other heir stood imperiously, "I want you to get me a dragon."

Hiccup's gaze didn't falter, "And why would I do that?"

"Because I've told you to that's why."

Snotlout rolled his eyes. He sounded like a spoilt brat expecting everyone to do as he told them just because he was a Chief's son.

Hiccup just shrugged, "Sorry Thuggory but I don't have to do anything you say and I'm certainly not inflicting you upon any dragon."

Thuggory glared and stepped forward menacingly, "Look Runt, as far as I'm concerned you're only good for being any real Viking's bootlicker so either you get me the best dragon out there or I'll beat your scrawny hide and then pay your sick cousin a visit."

The threat was clear and the moment it left Thuggory's mouth the entire Cove seemed to freeze. Hiccup's expression went from irritated and slightly wary to completely blank and Snotlout could practically feel the rage boiling beneath it. Technically Thuggory's threat held no weight since Snotlout wasn't actually sick and defenceless but only three people knew that so it was the very fact that the other heir was willing to go that far to get what he wanted that had Hiccup so enraged.

Whatever Hiccup was about to do next was never revealed because there was an ominous pounding of heavy feet and as if they'd simply appeared from the air they were surrounded by Outcasts.

What happened next was a confused jumble of bodies and struggling where Snotlout was certain he got a few good bites in until he found himself dangling by his tail in the grip of one of the Outcasts. Looking around he saw that both Hiccup and Thuggory were being held by other Outcasts and then the gathered enemies parted to let through Alvin the Treacherous himself.

"Ello Hiccup."

* * *

Snotlout had decided that cages were really rubbish places to be.

For once Alvin hadn't wasted time gloating and the three of them had been whisked away to the Outcast's ship without delay. Thuggory had kicked up a huge fuss and had given some sort of grand, arrogant and imperious speech where he'd declared his status and a bunch of other things that Snotlout couldn't remember, he'd sort of tuned the Meathead out after the first couple of sentences. Hiccup had handled the whole thing rather calmly but then he was Hiccup and remaining calm in the face of being captured and other great dangers was kind of his specialty. Amusingly enough Alvin didn't care about Thuggory's words and had simply told the other heir to shut up and proceeded to ignore him.

They'd been taken to the ship and Snotlout had managed to give a few more bites and a couple of burns to their captors before they finally shoved him in a small cage and dumped him in the ship's hold. Thuggory was thrown in after him while Hiccup was taken elsewhere, while this worried Snotlout he knew that Alvin needed Hiccup to train his dragons so his cousin was relatively safe at the moment. Thuggory on the other hand wasn't so secure since as far as Alvin was concerned he was expendable, yes he was the son of a chief but the Outcasts weren't currently worried about ransoms. If they learnt how to control dragons then the whole Archipelago was theirs for the taking and in that regard Thuggory was no use whatsoever. That and Alvin led the Outcasts and his focus was entirely on Stoick and Berk rendering anyone else a minor concern. Of course Thuggory hadn't realised any of this which could cause considerable problems in the future.

"How come that runt is more valuable than me!?"

Snotlout sighed in annoyance. This idiot of an heir had been going on like this for a while now and he really wished he'd just shut up. Seriously, who worried about being considered less important when they'd been captured? It was incredibly stupid, a waste of time and was distracting him from forming his own plans of escape.

He'd already tried using his flames on the bars and lock but they were too strong for his flame, maybe if he kept at it for several hours he might melt them a little but he didn't have enough energy to produce fire for that long without stopping for a rest.

"I'm the future chief of the Meathead Tribe! I'm far greater than Hiccup will ever be and that twig hasn't done anything significant in his entire life!"

Snotlout stared at him in complete disbelief. Seriously? Thuggory was there when the Meatheads were told the story of Hiccup befriending Toothless and their defeat of the Red Death. Even a simpleton would recognise that as a significant achievement. The only reason Thuggory was with them in the Cove in the first place was because he was trying to force Hiccup to get him a dragon, that made it pretty obvious he knew Hiccup was the best dragon trainer.

"If it wasn't for that loser I'd never have been captured in the first place."

Oh for the love of…would he shut up!? Who was he complaining to anyway? The walls? It wasn't like he knew that the nearby baby Nightmare was actually a human-turned-dragon and could understand him!

Snotlout gave a disgusted snort and fired a brief burst of flame through the cage bars towards the stuck up heir, it wasn't going to reach the twit but it made him feel slightly better. He examined his cage once more and confirmed that it was too well built for him to perform a breakout so he moved onto the default plan that his uncle had taught him if you had no means of escape. Basically rest and reserve your energy so you were prepared for when an opportunity for escape came your way.

He curled up as well as he could in his small cage and closed his eyes, it would be a while before they reached Outcast Island by ship and that would certainly be where they were going so he could afford to sleep for a bit. Fortunately Thuggory had finally gone quiet, whether this was due to Snotlout breathing fire at him or not he didn't know but he wasn't complaining.

Snotlout drifted off into light sleep.

* * *

 _ **PS-Enter the Outcasts. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.**_


	12. Outcast Island

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and welcome to another chapter. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy it.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **Outcast Island**

It was a fairly dull trip to Outcast Island and Snotlout slept through most of it, in all honesty he knew he should probably be more concerned with the situation they were in but this sort of thing had happened before and they'd come out alright so it likely wouldn't be much different this time. Hiccup would work out a way to escape and even if he didn't the rest of Berk would soon come to rescue them so there wasn't much to worry about.

Despite Snotlout's confidence in his cousin and friends he had come up with something that might make things easier for him, if he stayed docile and friendly the Outcasts might not consider him dangerous and may be less on their guard around him. This could create a few opportunities that he could exploit to aid their escape.

There was the sound of heavy feet and two Outcasts descended into the hold. The moment they appeared Thuggory started up again with his threats and declarations of his status and Snotlout groaned in annoyance. One of them hauled Thuggory roughly to his feet and because they'd kept the heir's hands bound there wasn't much he could do about it, that didn't stop him from complaining though.

Would he please shut up! Didn't his father teach him what to do when he'd been kidnapped?

The Outcast growled in annoyance and swiftly gagged Thuggory rendering his words to nothing more than muffled grunts of anger.

That was much better. Thank you that Outcast.

The other Outcast picked up Snotlout's cage and the boy-turned-dragon stayed still and quiet as he did so, he could've breathed fire at the man through the bars but that wouldn't work well with his 'be docile and friendly' plan. He was carried out onto the deck and he briefly blinked at the change from dim light to full sunshine, once his eyes had adjusted he looked around for Hiccup and he spotted his cousin being led behind Alvin between two more Outcasts. As expected the older boy seemed unharmed and Snotlout hoped it stayed that way. His cousin raised an eyebrow when he saw the gagged Thuggory but his attention quickly moved onto his younger cousin and Snotlout knew he was checking that he was okay.

Hiccup and Thuggory were taken away towards the cells and Snotlout found himself being carried to a different section of the Outcast's base. They entered a small stone room and the cage was placed upon a stone shelf that seemed to serve as a table and Savage entered behind them and eyed Snotlout. The man who'd been carrying him gave a scornful snort, "I don't see the use of a tiny dragon like that."

"Idiot!" Savage snapped, "It's a baby Monstrous Nightmare, it's only small because it's not fully grown yet but it'll be one of the most powerful dragon when it does. It's probably the young of one of Berk's Nightmares, likely the one ridden by Stoicks nephew."

Savage leaned down and looked into the cage and Snotlout took his chance.

Widen eyes, tilt head, wag tail and hope for the best.

It was a long shot, they were Outcasts after all, but Snotlout knew how much power his cuteness had so maybe it would at least make them give him a bit of leeway.

Savage stared at him, "He seems to be a docile feller."

Snotlout pressed himself against the cage bars. Now to give a few little whines and look really appealing.

The man smiled and poked his finger through the bars and scratched the tip of Snotlout's snout. Snotlout closed his eyes and gave a small purr making sure that Savage heard it.

"Friendly little guy aren't ya"

Savage slowly opened the cage and Snotlout stumbled out making a show of being uncertain, the man began scratching his back and he gave a few more purrs. The other Outcast spoke up uncertainly, "Are ye sure it's a good idea to let it out of its cage?"

Savage waved a dismissive hand, "Don't worry, I doubt 'e'll cause much trouble. E's too small to cause any damage fer one thing and look at 'im, 'e wouldn't do anything wrong would ye?"

Savage directed the last of his sentence at Snotlout who could barely believe what was happening.

Savage was far more susceptible to cuteness than he thought. Now to deliver the coup de grace.

Snotlout rolled onto his back exposing his belly as he waved his limbs about cutely. In an instant Savage began scratching his stomach and Snotlout gave happy chirps and grinned foolishly at the man's attentions.

Savage was now putty in his claws.

Alvin's second-in-command eventually stopped his fuss of Snotlout and he turned to the other Outcast, "I think we can let the little guy run around a bit. E's not going to be any trouble."

Snotlout smirked.

* * *

There were several things of interest around the Outcast's base and word of the cute baby Nightmare who was completely docile spread so quickly that Snotlout could effectively go anywhere he wanted to. Unfortunately he couldn't get down to the cells and every time he tried he'd be picked up by one of the guards and taken away from them.

His cuteness seemed to score serious hits against the Outcasts and it was remarkable how supposedly dangerous criminals would completely fawn over him like mother hens. The Outcasts doted upon his every need and if Alvin knew about the docile baby Nightmare roaming his base he didn't do anything about it, maybe because he decided that a dragon that willing to make friends with his men was a rare opportunity to get a trained dragon of his own.

Though he couldn't get to the cells he learned by listening to the conversations of others that Hiccup and Thuggory were sharing a cell, Snotlout initially pitied his cousin but then he heard that they'd left the Meathead's heir bound and gagged because no one could put up with his endless words and attitude. That cheered him up a bit and Snotlout did feel a bit of vindictive pleasure when he heard it.

For the moment he focused on worming his way into the good books of the Outcasts and keeping his eyes and ears open for any chance of helping Hiccup out, getting a hold of his cell key would be a start though he'd have to find an alternative route into the cells as the Outcasts weren't letting him in through the normal entrance. Finding a way to ruin Alvin's defences and methods of attack would also be useful and put a dampener on future plans made by the Outcast chief as well as clear the way for any rescue plans made by the other riders.

So Snotlout wandered through the Outcast's base using his cuteness to the maximum and learning all sorts of information without the Outcasts even realising it.

* * *

 _ **PS-Cuteness works on Outcasts too. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.**_


	13. Reversal

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and welcome to the next chapter. Snotlout continues to make full use of his cuteness and we see a bit of confident Hiccup as well. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **Reversal**

All of Snotlout's efforts to look adorable were paying off and he'd learned quite a few interesting things about Outcast Island, including the identities of those who held the cell keys.

One set was of course held by Alvin and another was in the keeping of Savage, the other set would be in the hands of whoever was on guard duty in the cells and the keys were passed on along with guard shifts. With this knowledge at his disposal Snotlout began to create a plan.

The first order of business was getting friendly with one of the guards, this was easily achieved and he'd already half done that step already. The guard in question was called Carl (a very weird name) and he was especially vulnerable to Snotlout's cuteness. As such Snotlout went in search of the guard who was currently off guard duty.

* * *

As expected he found him in the Mess Hall laughing with a group of his mates and he made a beeline for their table.

Time to pull out all the stops.

Snotlout clambered onto the table and looked up at Carl with wide eyes and gave the man a little growling squeak, instantly the Outcast left what he was doing and began scratching Snotlout under the chin. The boy-turned-dragon gave forth his heart melting purrs and all the Outcasts looked at him with gooey eyes.

Just what he wanted.

Carl continued to give Snotlout scratches and the dragon-boy hammed up the purring to ridiculous levels, he rolled onto his back in what he'd found to be a killer tactic and soon everyone present was cooing at him and showering him with attention. Reluctantly Carl stopped scratching Snotlout and stood, "Well I need to get on duty."

Exactly the thing he wanted to hear. Now to act suitably distressed at Carl leaving.

Snotlout turned his purrs into grumbles of sadness and he whined piteously at the man, the other Outcasts admonished their comrade.

"Now look what ye've done Carl!"

"Aye, the wee fella's upset now!"

Carl held up his hands defensively, "I'm sorry guys but you know Alvin has said that he can't go down to the cells. I have no idea why he's ordered that but I'm not about to disobey him."

"It'll be fine, the feller's obviously fond of ye and what could taking 'im down there do? Just keep 'im with ye at all times and we won't snitch on ye to Alvin or Savage, they'll never know it 'appened."

Carl chewed his lip nervously, "I don't know guys…"

Snotlout gave another heart wrenching whine and looked mournfully at the man giving him the full brunt of his huge, watery blue eyes.

C'mon, take the bait…you know you want to.

Carl sighed, "Fine then but you better not tell Alvin about this, he'll have my head if he finds out."

HAH! Sucker.

Carl picked Snotlout up and the boy-turned-dragon chirped excitedly and nuzzled the man who smiled at him before heading off towards the cells.

* * *

The guard Carl was relieving initially questioned the man bringing the baby dragon to the only place he wasn't allowed to go but after some cute eyes, adorable nuzzles and heart melting purrs on Snotlout's part he agreed to keep it quiet and left them to it.

Carl patrolled the cells briskly and Snotlout kept a sharp eye out for Hiccup from the man's arms. He saw several dragons but it was a while before they reached where they were holding his cousin. Carl actually stopped outside Hiccup's cell and looked in, Snotlout did as well and he saw Hiccup through the bars and his cousin's eyes widened in surprise when he saw Snotlout. The Outcast grinned, "It looks like we might not actually need you that much 'Dragon Conqueror'. Some dragons can be trained by us even without your help."

Snotlout internally glowered. This guy may dote on anything he deemed cute but he was obviously a jerk to the prisoners. The ease he said his words suggested he'd done this sort of gloating before and it made him feel less guilty about what he was about to do.

Despite his thoughts Snotlout squeaked happily and nuzzled Carl affectionately, the man looked down at him and smiled, "This little guy seems to like us just fine." He looked back up at Hiccup, "I guess that dragons aren't as loyal as you claim boy."

And cue the next part of the plan.

Snotlout spontaneously flared up his fire coat and Carl dropped him with a yelp of pain, in seconds Snotlout was in the air and he flew around the Outcast before charging at him from behind. Carl just recovered in time to see the baby Nightmare flying towards him before Snotlout flew straight into his face smacking the guard's head into the cell bars knocking him out cold in an instant.

He unceremoniously trampled over Carl's unconscious form as he searched for the keys, soon he found them and grabbing them in his mouth he flew over to the cell and dropped them into Hiccup's outstretched hand. His cousin grinned at him, "That was pretty impressive Snotlout."

Of course it was, it was a Snotlout plan therefore it was bound to be impressive.

"Though I think my plan of tricking Alvin into taking me to the very dragons that helped us defeat him was slightly better and I pulled it off without weaponry, flight or extreme levels of cuteness."

Touché Hiccup, touché.

The cell door swung open and Snotlout scurried in to his cousin. He looked Hiccup up and down and decided that he was alright so he looked round for Thuggory.

Now the Outcasts said he was in the same cell as Hiccup so he should be…ah! There he was.

Thuggory was sat propped up against the back wall of the cell bound hand and foot and with a gag tied tightly over his mouth. Snotlout turned back to Hiccup who was most certainly not tied up and could have easily undone the other heir's bonds. At his younger cousin's knowing look Hiccup simply shrugged, "It was stopping him from causing trouble by running his mouth off and it's kind of payback for when he left you tied up in the woods for almost a whole day."

Snotlout snorted angrily as Hiccup's words brought back that particular memory from when he was nine. Thuggory had made them play a 'game' he'd come up with which was that Hiccup and Snotlout had to spend a whole day in the woods without him and a few of his cronies catching them. Of course nine year old Snotlout wasn't a match for several thirteen/fourteen year olds and had been easily caught very early on, this allowed Thuggory to make use of the 'rule' that meant that he could do what he liked to anyone he caught. In this case that was tying Snotlout to a tree, gagging him and then leaving him there for Hiccup to find and rescue. He'd been stuck there from morning until near dinner when Hiccup finally appeared having avoided being caught because he was so small he could hide in places the others didn't even know existed. The long wait had been because Thuggory and his cronies had been watching Snotlout in shifts while the others hunted for Hiccup, they'd done so in hope that they could catch the other boy when he came to rescue his cousin but Hiccup had been smarter than they gave him credit for and the moment he saw the bound Snotlout he knew it was a trap. He'd waited in hiding until they finally left to head home for dinner and then he nipped out and untied the younger boy. Thuggory of course thought the whole thing was hilarious even if he didn't catch Hiccup and he would smirk whenever he saw the marks from the rope which Snotlout had for a day or two afterwards.

Bet Thuggory didn't think being tied up for so long was funny now. Maybe they could just leave him here, it might do him some good.

Seemingly reading his cousin's thoughts Hiccup shook his head, "It's tempting to just leave him here but I think dad wouldn't be too impressed and neither would his."

Fair point.

Snotlout sauntered over to Thuggory who looked slightly confused as well as angry. He guessed the other heir was wondering what Hiccup had been saying to Snotlout as the older cousin had spoken in quiet tones to stop the Meathead from hearing anything he shouldn't. Keeping up appearances Snotlout waited for Hiccup's command like a well-trained dragon, the older boy lightly tapped the ropes round Thuggory's ankles, "Firefang, slow burn."

Snotlout produced a weak flame that quickly burnt through the ropes and they moved onto the ones holding the heir's hands. They were burnt through just as quickly though there was a muffled yelp of pain from Thuggory.

Oh…did he accidently burn Thuggory's hand? How clumsy of him.

His hands free the Meathead's heir quickly ripped his gag off and snarled at Hiccup, "What took you…mmff!?"

Hiccup had clapped his hand over Thuggory's mouth halting his enraged rant and the younger heir stared at him with the serious look that Hiccup only displayed in life or death situations. When he got that look on his face all the Riders knew better than to disobey whatever he commanded them to do for such actions could well result in deadly consequences. That and the fact Hiccup looked like Stoick in his full chieftain mode whenever that look appeared elicited full respect and obedience from all who saw it.

Hiccup looked right at Thuggory, "Listen Thuggory we need to get away from here as fast as possible without being discovered. I've dealt with Alvin before so we'll do this my way, you just do as I say and stay quiet, understand?"

Thuggory meekly nodded and Snotlout had to admit he was impressed, he hadn't ever heard Hiccup carry that much command in his voice before nor that much confidence. It had shown itself more and more ever since he became head of the Academy but that was a whole new level and it made Hiccup seem more like the chief than just the chief's son.

Hiccup removed his hand from Thuggory's mouth and the Meathead stayed quiet as promised, Snotlout gave a little growl and the three of them stole out of the cell and on through the tunnels beneath Outcast Island.

* * *

 _ **PS-The escape is on! Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.**_


	14. A New Keeper

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and welcome to this chapter. We see the rest of the escape this time around as well as a further development. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **A New Keeper**

Everything had been going absolutely fine. They'd escaped and locked the unconscious Carl in Hiccup's former cell, stolen through the tunnels beneath Outcast Island, snuck out of the tunnels and down to the docks and they were about to steal a ship and get away with no problems when Thuggory ruined the entire thing.

There'd been a single visible guard by the Outcast ships who'd have to be dealt with quietly so as not to alert the rest of the island. Before Hiccup could even think of a plan to achieve this Thuggory had jumped out of hiding and run straight at the guard screaming war cries. He pounced on the man and after a brief but noisy scuffle Thuggory emerged victorious, he turned round and exclaimed to Hiccup arrogantly, "And that's how a real Viking does things Hiccup!"

Hiccup briefly face-palmed, "And then they get themselves killed because they've alerted the entire island."

Thuggory scoffed, "Oh please. They won't have noticed anything, they're Outcasts which means they're stupid, weak and incapable of facing up to a real Viking like me."

"Be careful what ye say boy, the wrong people might hear yer."

Looking behind them they saw Alvin backed by most of his men all of whom were armed.

Well done Thuggory…well done.

Alvin stepped foreward menacingly, "Now then boy, either surrender now an' I may stop my men from reacting to yer words or try to fight an' feel the full wrath of those ye just insulted."

The Meathead heir held up the sword he'd taken from the unconscious guard ready to use it, "I'm the best warrior in my whole tribe, there's no way I can possibly lose to a bunch of Outcasts."

Hiccup face-palmed a second time and Snotlout sighed.

Thuggory really was a complete and utter moron, Alvin's words were obviously not a bluff but the older heir didn't seem to realise this. He was still expendable and by challenging the Outcasts he'd basically signed his own death warrant. Odin help his tribe when he becomes chief, though right now that was looking highly unlikely. Hiccup would probably get out of this alive as Alvin still needed him but there were plenty of ways to punish someone without killing them if Hiccup chose to fight with Thuggory.

Just as these thoughts ran through his head Snotlout's keener senses picked up something coming their way. By the sounds and the scents he could hazard a very good guess at what it was and he gave a quick squeak towards Hiccup. His cousin looked at him, then at the sky and he suddenly moved and somehow tackled Thuggory to the ground, "GET DOWN!"

A unique, identifiable shriek filled the air and the wonderful sight of a blue-purple plasma blast impacted the ground before Alvin. Toothless shot overhead and Snotlout saw Astrid sat upon the Night Fury's back, the other dragons soon followed and fire rained down around them as the elated cheers of the twins sounded above them. Taking advantage of the cover Toothless swooped down and landed before Hiccup and Astrid moved back to let Hiccup take his rightful place on the dragon's back. Stormfly snatched Thuggory up in her claws and Snotlout was surprised to see Helen riding the Nadder. He didn't have time to think on it further as Alvin's men were quickly recovering from the surprise attack and were almost ready to counter it, Taking flight he heard Toothless doing the same behind them and they joined the others in the air as Stoick threw out a command from the back of Thornado, "Pull back before they start retaliating."

The Riders obeyed and soon Outcast Island was rapidly receding into the horizon as they flew back towards Berk.

With things calmer after the chaotic and sudden flurry that was their escape, Snotlout looked around at who'd come to rescue them. All the other Riders were present as expected though it was strange to see Helen on Stormfly instead of Astrid. Stoick was riding Thornado but he also had Mogadon as a passenger as well but that was also something Snotlout guessed he should have expected. Hookfang was also with them but strangely enough he had Gobber as a rider but he was likely the only other person the Nightmare would stand having on his back. Snotlout flew closer to his dragon and he could see Hookfang checking that his rider-turned-dragon was unharmed, he did a few rolls around the Nightmare's head to prove that he was okay and Hookfang gave a satisfied rumble.

* * *

Once they'd returned to Berk Stoick immediately pulled Hiccup into a hug before asking him exactly what happened on Outcast Island. Hiccup told as much of the tale as he knew with a few necessary adjustments to keep Snotlout's cover, he did keep in the bits which showed Thuggory's idiocy even though he didn't refer to them in that way and they could see Mogadon's relief at his son being safe being slightly tinged with disappointment at Thuggory's foolish actions during his ordeal.

It was a while after this once everything had settled down that Astrid pulled Hiccup aside to speak to him and Snotlout joined them curious about what she wanted to say.

The girl was strangely nervous and she double checked to see that no one else was in hearing range of what she had to say. Satisfied it was clear she spoke to Hiccup in a low voice, "Hiccup, after you'd been captured there was something I discovered that I think you should know."

Hiccup frowned in concern, "What is it Astrid?"

She looked around once more before continuing, "When we realised you'd been taken by Outcasts I went to check if Snotlout was okay as well, I thought they might have gone for him as well while he was vulnerable because of his illness. When I got to Gothi's I saw your dad leave with Gothi so I went to the door to quickly call inside when they'd gone, I assumed your dad had told him what was happening and I was just going to assure him some more but when I called in I didn't get an answer. I looked inside and found that there was no sign of Snotlout anywhere, he wasn't in the patient's bed and it didn't look like anyone but Gothi had been staying there for ages." She was clearly worried as she asked the next question, "Its obvious Snotlout hasn't been in bed ill for a long time so why is your father saying he is when he obviously knows Snotlout isn't and where has Snotlout gone."

As she'd spoken Hiccup had begun pinching the bridge of his nose and Snotlout sighed.

Well it looked their secret had just been found out.

The older cousin spoke almost tentatively, "Have you told anyone else about this?"

She shook her head, "No, we headed off to rescue you straight afterwards so there wasn't time to tell anyone else."

Hiccup sighed in relief, "That's good."

The girl was clearly confused by his response, "What do you mean 'that's good', what's going on?"

Astrid was beginning to get worked up and Hiccup held up his hands, "Astrid its okay, Snotlout is fine. In fact he's been around the whole time he was supposedly ill you just didn't realise it."

"What are you talking about?"

Hiccup gestured to Snotlout, "Firefang is Snotlout. We had a run in with a witch a while ago who turned him into a baby Monstrous Nightmare, Gothi's been trying to find a way to reverse it and get him back to normal."

She stared at him like he'd gone completely crazy, "Seriously!?"

Snotlout answered with a sigh and a very deliberate nod and Astrid stared at him for a moment longer before leaning against a nearby wall, "This is crazy."

Hiccup pulled a face, "Yeah it is. We've been keeping it secret because we didn't know how the Meatheads would react, not to mention people like Mildew who might try and capitalise on it for their own gain. Dad thought it better for everyone if they believed Snotlout was a normal Nightmare so we invented Snotlout having a contagious illness in order to explain his absence. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you and the other Riders but we decided that the less people who knew the better."

She sighed, "So you now need me to keep it quiet as well." She gave a small smile, "I can do that."

Hiccup gave his own relieved smile in response, "Thanks Astrid, we really appreciate it."

Astrid crouched down and addressed Snotlout, "I'll see what I can do to keep Ruffnut and Helen off you, if they find out the truth they'll be completely horrified and it'll be really awkward."

Snotlout growled happily. He had an ally that would shield him from Ruffnut and Helen, now why didn't they let Astrid know sooner? She could've saved him so much humiliation.

She stood once more, "I should head off before people get suspicious about what we're discussing." She looked down at Snotlout, "It's going to take a while to get used to the fact Snotlout is currently a dragon."

She gave a smile and a nod before heading off and Hiccup spoke to his younger cousin, "Lucky that she didn't tell anyone else."

Snotlout rumbled in agreement.

* * *

 _ **PS-So Astrid now knows the truth as well. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.**_


	15. Meathead Bonding

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and I'm sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I've had a run of not doing much writing recently so it's taken me days to write this chapter bit by bit. I think I'm starting to get close to the end of this story so the next couple of chapters will start to wrap things up as I think pushing it further will make it laboured. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **Meathead Bonding**

It was a day or two after their escape from Outcast Island that they decided to allow the Meatheads to find and bond with their own dragons. It had been put off because of the whole kidnapping episode but now the day had come where they'd see if the young Meatheads could get dragons of their own.

In preparation for this Hiccup had spent a lot of time talking about the relationship between rider and dragon. He felt it was the most important part of dragon training to understand that you and the dragon had an equal partnership, the rider was not the dragon's master and had to accept that the dragon was a living creature with its own personality and preferences. In the end the dragon chose you to be its rider as much as you chose it, if the dragon didn't want you there was no way you were going to force it.

The Meatheads seemed to be taking everything he was saying on board and it was clear that they respected Hiccup a great deal. It was kind of difficult not to because it only took a short time to see that when it came to dragons Hiccup had a way with them that no one else could replicate. Of course there were those far too stubborn to stop thinking of Hiccup as 'useless' even though they were greatly in the minority and occasionally Snotlout wondered if he would've been as supportive of his cousin had he not been brought up alongside him.

Either way it was time for the Meatheads to befriend dragons of their own and to that end they'd brought them to some of Berk's un-bonded dragons. Said dragons had been gathered in the Academy arena and there was a variety to choose from out of the four main dragon types of Berk.

Snotlout stayed to one side alongside Hookfang who was there in case any of the Nightmares got out of hand. They needed him there because the Nightmares of Berk held a great deal of respect for Hookfang and usually listened to him, when it came to the other academy dragons the obedience of the Nightmares was a bit hit or miss depending on their mood. The other dragon species were similarly respectful to their Academy representative as it were so any problems could be easily dealt with. Snotlout couldn't wait to see how things would turn out and he remained still and silent as proceedings unfolded.

Both dragons and Meatheads regarded each other carefully and neither side made a move for quite some time until one Nightmare finally took a step forward. She was a prettily patterned dragon with a nice deep green colour and dark red strips arranged neatly down her back, her stance was quite relaxed as she stepped forward and her expression was a mix of friendliness and curiosity. After a short pause Helen took a step towards the Nightmare and held up her open palm, the dragon seemed to smile and moved her head in a gesture to come closer and the girl obliged. She stopped inches away and held out her hand and soon the Nightmare pressed her snout against the open palm, there was a smile from both sides and Helen began scratching the dragon who purred happily.

As if it was a signal both Meatheads and dragons made their moves, one boy headed straight towards another, yellow coloured Nightmare then quickly checked his confident stride as he remembered what Hiccup had told them. For his part the Nightmare looked amused and he sauntered over to the Meathead and nudged him and soon they were getting acquainted.

The one who threw up on his first flight chose a Gronckle and he picked out bluish coloured one. When he held out his hand to the dragon the Gronckle yawned, looked at him, thought for a moment and then decided that he could be bothered getting up to bond with a rider. Once the necessary stuff was done the dragon flopped back down and closed his eyes in pleasure as his new partner rubbed his back.

Two of the Meatheads and a red-orange Zippleback practically charged at each other and clashed in a hug/tackle/wrestling match. For a moment Hiccup looked like he was about to intervene until he realised that it was just the dragon and riders being over exuberant in their bonding and he left them to it.

The last Meathead was nervous and didn't move forward with the others as he gazed at the dragons warily, a purple Nadder stared right back at the boy making him even more uncomfortable and eventually the dragon seemed to roll her eyes and she walked right up to him purposefully. His eyes widened nervously and you could tell that he was fighting the urge to run for it, the Nadder leaned down into his face and snorted before nuzzling him affectionately, eventually the boy relaxed and he stroked the Nadder's scales gently as she rumbled with approval.

From his position beside Hookfang, Snotlout saw Hiccup breathe a sigh of relief and he smirked at his older cousin. He then noticed Helen heading in his direction along with her new Nightmare and he quickly scurried over to Astrid.

Ever since she'd found out about his transformation Astrid had stuck to her promise of helping him keep Helen and Ruffnut away and they'd come up with a good way of doing it. Snotlout was now pretending to be partially traumatised by his ordeal with the Outcasts and acting like he was only comfortable around Hiccup, Astrid, other dragons and his uncle. Whenever one of the others went to go near him he'd give a distressed squeak and run to whichever of that list was nearest, in many cases it was actually Astrid who was closest and she'd proven to be the biggest deterrent for unwanted attention as it only took a single glare to put off even Ruffnut from trying to cuddle him.

Reaching her quickly the girl soon cottoned on and scooped him into her arms, Helen stopped short and pouted slightly but didn't say anything and Snotlout smiled slyly. Seeing it Astrid muttered at him, "Nice to see you're happy, do you know how weird it is to be holding one of your friends whose been turned into a dragon?"

Snotlout snorted. Did she know how weird it was to be the one who was turned into a dragon? Now that was weird.

"Okay guys. You should all spend the day getting to know your dragons and the best way to do that is to head off somewhere with your new partner. You can ask any of us riders if you have any questions or issues."

Responding to Hiccup's words the gathering began to drift apart as dragons went with their new partners elsewhere, the Academy Riders also separated off to do their own things and Astrid placed Snotlout on the ground before heading off after the new Nadder rider who still looked a bit uncomfortable with his dragon. With everyone gone Hiccup glanced at the dragons who didn't get a rider, "Well I guess I better get these guys back." He looked down at Snotlout, "I'm going to be in the forge most of today, are you going to join me?"

Snotlout nodded and Hiccup smiled, "Okay then, see you there."

* * *

They'd largely remained undisturbed at the forge for most of the afternoon as the Meatheads spent time with their new dragons. This allowed Hiccup to catch up on a few of his projects which had been left unattended for a while due to recent events and Snotlout found ways to amuse himself as his older cousin worked.

Things were going fine until Hookfang looked up from where he was curled on the floor and growled warningly.

Looking round they saw Thuggory standing at the forge entrance eyeing the Nightmare, he took a step back when Toothless also stood and growled and Hiccup frowned at the other heir, "What do you want Thuggory?"

The heir kept an eye on the still hostile dragons, "I just want to say something."

"What."

There was a long silence where Thuggory looked between Hiccup and the dragons his face unreadable, then he turned his back on them all and said a few words, "You're not as weak as I thought."

He stalked out of the forge and vanished leaving behind two perplexed cousins. Hiccup stared after him for a moment before finally addressing Snotlout, "You heard that too right?"

The boy-turned-dragon nodded in slight bewilderment and Hiccup hummed, "I wasn't expecting that."

Snotlout growled in agreement and he replayed the last few moments over in his head again thoughtfully.

Maybe Thuggory wasn't as bad as he thought.

* * *

 _ **PS-The Meatheads now have their dragons and I tried to get a little bit of difference between them. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update quicker next time.**_


	16. Outcasts Again

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and welcome to this short chapter. We're now moving towards the end of the story and this chapter pushes the plot on. Thank you for your continued support though reviews don't seem to be appearing on the site even though I'm receiving e-mails saying that they have, is it just me or are others experiencing this too? Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter and I've also started posting up a re-write of 'One Which Isn't You're Own' that has been renamed 'Helpless' so please check that out and its set in the same AU as this story.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **Outcasts Again**

Snotlout sighed contentedly as he shuffled about to get in a better position in the sun.

He'd never realised how enjoyable sun bathing was until now, usually he was up and wanting to do something when he was awake and hadn't seen the point in laying around and cooking yourself. Of course with Berk being Berk the weather wasn't very often good for sunbathing anyway and there was always a slight chill to the air even with clear skies and full sunshine. Now though his internal heat and scales warded off the cold and soaking in the sun's rays was a most pleasant pastime.

He was curled up on Hookfang's back and both of them were enjoying their lazy time as much as possible down at the docks. Vikings bustled around them as they dealt with transporting the catches off the fishing boats, overhauling some of the ships, repairing sails and a whole bunch of other tasks necessary to maintaining Berks' fleet. Hiccup and the other riders were away on an exercise with the Meatheads and their new dragons so Snotlout had opted for hanging around the docks with Hookfang to ease his uncle's worries slightly by staying in an area with lots of people about to keep an eye on him. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened over the course of their time there and occasionally a Viking would give Snotlout a fish or two which he happily devoured.

Then Snotlout picked up on the muttering of voices and he raised his head to see a group of Vikings who'd stopped working and were staring out to sea. Curious he hopped off Hookfang and went to see what they were all looking at.

Outcast Ships.

It looked like a full raiding fleet and Snotlout heard the alarm horn sounding from Berk. Instantly Vikings were rushing about getting ready to defend their home and the docks became a hive of activity. Keeping out of the way of the Vikings, Snotlout took to the air and flew up and over the village and towards the other side of the island where Hiccup and the others were with the new Meathead Dragon Riders.

They needed to know about the Outcasts and he was much faster than any of the other Vikings.

Swooping low over the forest he scoured the trees below in case Hiccup had moved the training session there or Alvin was attempting a flank attack by using the ships as a distraction. Everything looked normal and he was about to swoop upwards and push on when something caught his eye.

What was that? It looked like it was glinting. Was it metal? Wait! He'd heard that sound befo…NET LAUNCHER!

The net zoomed upwards and Snotlout had only just turned in the air to fly away when it struck, completely entangling him within its mesh. Tumbling earthwards he tried to break free but couldn't shift the net as the world spun around him in a blur.

It was going to really hurt when he hit the ground.

Thankfully he never got that far as someone caught him just before he had a close encounter with the earth. With his world still spinning it took a while before he realised that the man holding him was an Outcast and was running somewhere eagerly, "We've got 'im sir!"

Yeah he wasn't going to stick around to find out who the Outcast was talking to. He had a pretty good idea who it was anyway.

A moment's concentration and Snotlout ignited his fire coat, the Outcast yelped in pain and dropped him but before he could focus on burning away the entangling net he was doused with freezing cold water.

WOAH! That was not a nice experience at all! And now he wouldn't be able to ignite his fire coat for a while.

A hefty boot landed in his field of vision and the rider-turned-dragon looked upwards into the face of Alvin. The Outcast chief smirked, "Ye've got to be careful with this one. 'E's a bit different from other dragons."

He leaned right down towards him, "Aren't ye…Snotlout."

* * *

 _ **PS-Unfortunately it's a bit short but the next one will be longer. Please let me know what you thought because even if the reviews don't appear on the site the alert e-mail tells me what they said anyway. I'll hopefully update again soon.**_


	17. Witch

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello all and here is a more normal length chapter after the short one last time. More Alvin and we discover how he knows about Snotlout as this story speeds on towards the end. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **Witch**

Snotlout stared at Alvin in complete shock.

How did he know that it was him, his uncle, Gothi and Hiccup hadn't told anyone else about his transformation except Astrid and she certainly would've kept it secret like she'd promised. Did they slip up when they were on Outcast Island? Did he do something that gave it away or did someone overhear Hiccup using his actual name? Thuggory had been right with them and he hadn't heard it, or maybe he had and had somehow told Alvin. No, that couldn't be it. Thuggory may be arrogant, selfish and hate him and Hiccup but he wouldn't go as far as to sell them out to the Outcasts. The Meatheads were as opposed to Alvin as Berk was and Thuggory shared that dislike, he wouldn't betray his whole tribe and his father.

Alvin yanked Snotlout up by his tail and he gave a small yelp of pain, the Outcast was still grinning has he held him, "Yes I know all about yer little 'change' thanks to a meeting with a certain witch. I've made a small deal with 'er that's going to get me Berk."

Wait, the witch! How did Alvin manage to find her and what was this deal? Somehow he got the feeling he wasn't going to like it very much so he decided against hanging around.

Swinging himself forward he latched onto Alvin's arm and bit down hard, the Outcast Chief cried out and instinctively shook him off. This is exactly what Snotlout wanted and he quickly took the opportunity to fly away but he didn't get far as a hand grabbed his tail once more and yanked him back painfully. The world whirled around confusedly and he tumbled into a small cage which was slammed shut and locked.

Alvin's face appeared before him with the man's former grin replaced by anger, "Just count yerself lucky that yer far more valuable as unharmed as possible. Otherwise I would be punishing ye 'arshly fer that trick."

Snotlout responded with a growl but did little else as he briefly examined the cage. It looked like the same one they'd put him in last time so that meant he wouldn't be able to get out on his own and it was unlikely anyone would let him out, cuteness was not going to help him this time around.

Alvin was barking orders to his men, "Let's get moving before the Berkians or their dragons find us. They're likely done with the diversionary ships by now and be looking fer their dragon-boy."

The whole group hurried off eager to be gone before the Berkians found them and it wasn't long before they were on an Outcast ship and sailing away from Berk.

* * *

Once again Snotlout slept through most of the trip to Outcast Island as he reserved his energy for whatever was coming next but was then surprised when he discovered that they hadn't gone to Outcast Island at all. Instead they had landed on the shores of a forested island which was covered by a thin mist, something about the place was familiar and he had a suspicion of where they were.

Alvin led his men off the ship and up a little used path that wound towards the island's centre, Snotlout was carried in his cage between two Outcasts and he glanced around him as they travelled. He was much more closely guarded than he had been last time and he received more than a few glares of anger from the Outcast's.

Guess they all knew who'd actually been the supposedly adorable little dragon from a few days ago. His main trick of being as cute as possible was now well and truly scuppered.

They travelled on and soon they came to a familiar clearing with a familiar circle of standing stones and a familiar house built inside them.

The home of the witch.

In front of the house was a circle of runes which was carved into the ground, beside this was four stones carved with more runes standing on their ends in a smaller circle and in front of the whole set up was the witch herself looking suitably mysterious in the ever present mist.

He didn't see her properly when they'd last encountered her but now he got a long look at the woman who'd turned him into a dragon. She was wearing a simple brown dress and her red hair was shoulder length and straight. Her only adornment was a single beaded necklace from which was hanging the skull of some falcon or hawk and her features were fairly young looking, all in all she was not quite the cackling old hag witches were often portrayed as.

Upon seeing Snotlout she gave a cold smile, "You found him just as quickly as you said Alvin."

"Of course I did Skuld, I told ye that the Berkians would fall fer my plan."

The cage was dropped with a bang and Snotlout gave a short bark as his head hit its roof. The witch crouched down and peered in, "Intriguing that the spell made him a baby dragon when his human form is an adolescent but that could be due to my hasty creation of the spell in the first place."

"Well it made it much easier to capture 'im." Alvin responded, "A teenage dragon would've been more difficult."

"Indeed." Skuld agreed. She then stood again, "Have you told him what's about to happen?"

Alvin looked thoughtful, "I don't believe I 'ave. I suppose it's only fair to do so, unless ye want to get started right away."

"It's quite alright." She answered, "I need another moment or two to prepare anyway and we really should let him know how he's going to help us."

She turned away towards the magic circle and Alvin smirked down at Snotlout, "Well then Snotlout, here's how it's going to go. The first circle of runes is a little spell that will change ye back into yer human form as soon as ye enter it, which I'm sure ye'll like very much."

Snotlout's response was to look at the four carved stones, knowing full well Alvin wouldn't change him back without some sort of plan to use him against Berk.

Alvin's smirk grew wider, "But before that we're going to put ye in that other circle which 'as a very different purpose." Alvin leaned down close to the cage, "Ye see, Skuld 'as a theory of sorts. Because yer a baby dragon she believes yer mind is…simpler than yer former human one making it easier to…alter."

Snotlout really didn't like where this was going.

"Now it's not actually been proven yet because yer the first successful human transformation spell she's performed, it seems that animal transformation is far more difficult to manage than the stories would 'ave us believe. 'Owever, she thinks that by using a mind altering spell on ye in yer current form she can make ye think that I'm yer father, ye'll still largely be yerself but ye'll be loyal to me." Alvin's grin became even wider, "With the right plan ye'll become the perfect spy fer me in Berk because they won't believe that ye'd ever turn on them. While they remain blissfully unaware of yer new allegiance ye'll be giving me all the information I need to finally conquer Berk once and fer all."

He broke into short laughter while Snotlout looked horrified.

Alvin was going to use magic to make him betray Berk, turn on Hiccup and help bring down his uncle!? There was no way he could let that happen!

Before he could do something Skuld spoke, "Its ready Alvin. We should begin immediately."

The Outcast Chief nodded and two Outcasts grabbed the cage. Snotlout breathed fire at them both only to receive another cold water shower which extinguished his flames, not deterred he tried to bite them but the bars were too close together foiling his attempts. Desperate he began throwing himself around the cage trying to maybe jerk it out of their hands or even break it but they held it tight and all too soon it was dropped right in the middle of the four stones. Skuld stood just outside the ring and held up her hands as she gave a few commands, "This spell is complicated and takes a long time to chant before it even begins to do anything, it is vital that it remains uninterrupted."

The Outcasts all stepped back away from the circle and Snotlout began slamming himself against the cage door trying to force it open. Skuld closed her eyes and raised her head before chanting in a strange, unworldly language. Slowly but surely the runes on the four stones began to glow in response and Snotlout redoubled his escape attempts desperate to get away before the spell could complete.

Then there was a roar.

* * *

 _ **PS-I'll admit that Skuld is actually from the Dreamworks Dragons comics but in this verse she's an actual witch as opposed to a fake one, either way she's a part of the disclaimer at the top. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.**_


	18. Restored

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello and welcome to the next chapter. A nice bit of action this time around and another little situation for Snotlout as well. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **Restored**

The roar was followed by a screech and the unique plasma blast of Toothless which impacted amongst the Outcasts.

They all scattered everywhere as the Night Fury swooped overhead closely followed by all the other dragons including the ones ridden by Meatheads. Hookfang was leading Helen's Nightmare and the other Meathead Nightmare in formation as they bombarded the enemy below, Barf and Belch and the Meathead Zippleback were creating massive gas clouds between them and then igniting them and the whoops of their riders could be clearly heard, Meatlug and the Meathead Gronckle provided support from above while Astrid flew Stormfly alongside the Meathead Nadder as the dragons used their spines to block the movement of the Outcasts.

Hiccup and Toothless were determinedly diving towards Snotlout and Alvin was yelling at his men, "DON'T LET THEM NEAR THE SPELL!"

His men tried to respond to the command but they were hard pressed by the dragons and the sudden appearance of Stoick, Mogadon, Thuggory and a whole host of Viking warriors completely overwhelmed them. The battle rapidly going against them Alvin saw that his scheme was thwarted and he decided to cut his losses, "RETREAT! BACK TO THE SHIP!"

The Outcasts instantly turned tail and ran in an unorganised scramble with several Vikings pursuing them, Toothless neatly snatched up Snotlout's cage from within the circle as Skuld screamed out, "NO!"

An accurate fire blast from Stormfly melted the lock and Snotlout shot out of the cage and into the air. He dived straight towards the second circle which would change him back and Skuld saw what he was doing and rushed forward to stop him, "NO! If you do that while the other spell is still active…!"

She got no further as Snotlout landed directly in the centre of the second spell causing the runes to light up, there was a huge surge of energy that rocked the area as the stones of the first spell shattered, everyone staggered at the vibrations and the airborne dragons were knocked back slightly as a shockwave of light resonated from the second spell. Inside it Snotlout's draconic roars turned to human cries as his body changed and reformed back into his original, teenage form as everyone shielded their eyes from the blinding light of the spell.

As the light faded Snotlout's cries did too and he ended up curled on the floor in the centre of the burnt and slightly smoking circle of runes. Slowly he realised that the strange feeling all over his body was because he now had human limbs and organs, this then gradually reached the great discovery that was he had those limbs because he was back to his actual form. Filled with jubilation he was about to leap to his feet in glee at being back to his old self when he realised something very important.

He was completely naked…in front of half the village and all his friends...some of whom were girls and chieftains…HOLY SPARKS OF THOR'S HAMMER!

Like a shot he scrabbled behind one of the standing stones and out of sight and peeped around to look at everyone else. All of them were staring and most (dragons included) wore looks of complete and utter shock, Fishlegs had actually fainted and it looked like Ruffnut was soon going to follow him while Hiccup wore an apologetic expression aimed directly at his younger cousin. Turning bright red Snotlout retreated behind the stone again and drew his legs right up to his chest in order to cover his...private…areas, words could not express his utter mortification and embarrassment at his situation and he'd never felt as exposed as he did right at that moment.

The immensely awkward silence stretched on and on until Tuffnut finally spoke, "Wait! Does this mean that everyone can now see Snotlout's…"

"That'll do Tuffnut!"

Hiccup thankfully halted the male twin before he finished and Stoick stepped towards the stone, "Snotlout?"

Snotlout answered tentatively, "Yeah?"

"Are you alright?"

"Not really." Of course he wasn't alright. He was completely starkers in front of practically everyone!

His uncle must have picked up on the embarrassed distress in his tone for his next words were addressed to everyone else, "Search the island and make sure that there are no more Outcasts in the area, see if you can find the witch as well as she's apparently escaped while we were all distracted."

Snotlout heard Mogadon giving commands and after a lot of shuffling, flapping and other noises everything went quiet until Stoick spoke again, "It's just me now Snotlout…well…me and Hookfang. Are you okay coming out?"

"No."

Though he was certain his uncle was telling the truth he still did not feel comfortable with leaving his little hiding place.

"Shall I come to you instead?"

"Yes please."

That was a much better option.

He heard heavy footsteps and soon his uncle rounded the stone. The man had unbuckled his chieftain's cloak and he handed it to Snotlout, the boy quickly wrapped himself in it to make himself a little bit more decent and to help stave off the cold that was creeping in. Stoick knelt down beside his nephew, "I sent Hiccup back to Berk on Toothless to get your clothes but it might take a while so I think you should let Hookfang keep you warm until then."

His uncle had a good point, though it was helping the fur cloak wasn't really enough and Hookfang's body heat would be far more effective. Also the Nightmare could easily wrap him up in his wings entirely completely shielding him from…well…everyone else.

Snotlout nodded and looked around for his dragon to find him already beside him growling in concern. The Nightmare seemed to understand what his rider needed and he lay on his side and used his wings to pull Snotlout into his chest, his wings completely cocooned the boy hiding him from the rest of the world and keeping him warm until Hiccup made it back with clothes to help him regain some of his tattered dignity.

Though he was very inclined to stay snuggled up in the safety of Hookfang's wings for a lot longer than that.

* * *

 _ **PS-A lot of embarrassment for Snotlout this time and this story will soon reach its end. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.**_


	19. Re-adjustments

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hello everyone and sorry for the long wait between chapters. This chapter is extra-long and is the final chapter of this story. I shall warn you now that the last section may contain spoilers for one of my other stories 'Glacial Bloom' so be warned if you haven't read that one yet though I have tried to keep the details vague. Thank you everyone for your continued support of this story and I hope you enjoy the last chapter.**_

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

 **Re-adjustments**

The period following Snotlout's restoration was…interesting.

By the time Hiccup had got to Berk and then returned with Snotlout's clothes the island had been thoroughly searched and there was no sign of Alvin, Outcasts or the witch Skuld. Most of those who'd come to the island to fight the Outcasts were on their way back to Berk while Stoick remained with Snotlout and Hookfang until Hiccup returned, eventually the older cousin reappeared and soon Snotlout was once again properly dressed though no less embarrassed.

As soon as they got back to Berk Snotlout instantly vanished into the house and into bed fully intending to not come out from under the covers for a long time. Stoick was left with the task of explaining to the Meatheads and the rest of the village why he'd kept Snotlout's transformation secret, most were understanding but some, like Borik, were livid until the chief assured them that he had indeed disciplined his nephew for his hi-jinks as a dragon even though it wasn't in view of anyone else. Ruffnut remained silent for days as she got her head around the fact that the baby dragon she'd been doting on was Snotlout while Tuffnut found the entire thing hilarious, Fishlegs eventually woke up from his faint and soon made plans to interview Snotlout intending to record his experiences of being a dragon while everyone else discussed what had happened to a great extent.

Eventually, after a lot of persuading, bullying from Hookfang and a copious amount of bribery, Hiccup managed to convince Snotlout to leave his bed and go out into the village though the younger cousin reserved the right to retreat at any time. This lead to discovering the slight changes caused by everything that had happened.

* * *

The first discovery was made just after they'd stepped outside the house and they were spotted by Helen. Snotlout was going to turn around and run back inside right there and then but Hookfang grabbed the back of his shirt and didn't let him. The boy managed to give his dragon a quick look of betrayal before Helen was right in front of him forcing him to face her.

This was not going to go well. She would not be happy about the fact that what she'd thought was a cute baby dragon was him. No doubt she was absolutely mortified and would possibly blame him even though he'd done his best to stay out of her way.

He wasn't sure what she was going to do but he certainly wasn't expecting her to smile at him. She then took off his helmet and ruffled his hair and he suddenly realised she was actually taller than his human form, her smile grew wider and she patted his head before replacing his helmet again, "You were a really cute dragon Snotlout."

Snotlout didn't know what he was supposed to do or say. She didn't seem to be angry which was good but he wasn't sure he liked what she was currently doing, it kind of made him feel like a little kid.

She briefly pinched his cheeks and addressed Hookfang, "You looked after him really well Hookfang so you better keep it up or I might be having some serious words with you."

The Nightmare grunted in acknowledgement and Helen patted Snotlout's head once more and began walking away, she then turned round and called back, "When I get back home I'll start working on a Firefang inspired outfit for you, you're going to look absolutely adorable."

She disappeared off leaving Snotlout very confused and slightly fearful of what she was planning.

* * *

The second encounter of the day revealed the next discovery as they met up with Astrid.

Astrid treated him as normal once she'd checked that he was feeling okay after his switch back so Snotlout hoped that was how things would go from then on but it was fated otherwise when Stormfly entered the picture.

The Nadder immediately ran towards him and began nuzzling him furiously and Snotlout looked to Astrid for aid, "Astrid, what is Stormfly doing?"

The girl was smirking in amusement as she answered, "I think she's decided to keep treating you like a baby dragon, she got pretty attached to your other form so she still believes you to be a hatchling."

Stormfly was now giving him a once over seemingly checking he was alright and the Nadder gave him a sniff. She growled in disapproval and gathered him into her wings and began licking him.

Apparently his cleanliness was not up to her standards.

Snotlout struggled in her grip eager to get away from the mothering dragon, "Stormfly will you stop that? Astrid!"

The girl was laughing at his predicament and was going to be no help at all but he was saved by Hookfang. The Nightmare gave a low roar and began moodily nosing Stormfly away from his rider, the Nadder released the boy with a squawk of protest and roared briefly at Hookfang. He responded with a louder roar of his own and pulled Snotlout into his wings with clear possessiveness, Stormfly sulkily backed off and delivered a series of growls that sounded distinctly impolite and Snotlout got the impression she was commenting on Hookfang's parenting skills. Astrid had stopped laughing as things got a bit more serious and she lightly tapped Stormfly's side to prevent things getting too out of hand, "Stormfly, enough! Snotlout isn't a hatchling and he doesn't need you to mother him, leave him be."

The Nadder grunted disbelievingly but backed off behind her rider with a couple of parting grunts at Hookfang, the Nightmare snorted back and then lovingly nuzzled his rider. Snotlout now felt very much like a child who was stuck in a competition between two parents and he decided it was best to leave now before things got any weirder. Extracting himself from Hookfang's wings Snotlout quickly bade Astrid goodbye and hurried off with Hookfang following him…once he'd given Stormfly a smug look that is.

* * *

It didn't take long for it to become obvious that it wasn't just Stormfly who was still treating Snotlout as a hatchling, other dragons were attempting to mother him be it by bringing him food, trying to cuddle him or even clean him. Each time Hookfang moodily chased them off and was going out of his way to nuzzle, cuddle and basically claim Snotlout as his whenever any other dragons were around so the boy found Fishlegs thinking he'd be one of the most likely people to know what was going on.

Thankfully Meatlug seemed to have decided that Snotlout was very much human and simply treated him the same way she treated everyone else, this made it a lot easier to get Fishlegs' help.

As he told the older boy what was going on Fishlegs looked thoughtful and remained quiet for a short while before answering, "Well the best theory I have is that the dragons are all confused by your transformation. They haven't quite worked out what's happened so they all think you're still a hatchling."

"That's what I was thinking but when I was actually a baby dragon they weren't all trying to mother me." Snotlout pointed out.

"I think that's because you were a baby Monstrous Nightmare who looked very like Hookfang." The older boy reasoned, "The chances are you smelled very similar to him as well so they all assumed you were Hookfang's hatchling. You've changed back but maybe your smell still is very similar to a hatchling's because of how long you spent as one. Most of the dragons weren't there when you transformed so they actually think you're a different hatchling and because you no longer look like Hookfang they think you're an 'unclaimed' hatchling."

"So they're all trying to effectively adopt me?"

"Most likely." Fishlegs' answered, "Hookfang knows who you are and about both transformations so he's trying to keep all the others away by claiming you as 'his'. It's not really surprising since you are his rider and you know that he doesn't like it when you ride other dragons instead of him, the only other one he's not bothered with you riding is Toothless so he's probably going to be really possessive while the other dragons keep trying to make you their young one."

"So how do I stop them from trying to do that?"

"Mostly just by waiting. Either Hookfang will properly mark you out as his and the others will all back off or the possible hatchling scent will wear off and be overshadowed by your human one thus making them no longer see you as a hatchling." Fishlegs then looked thoughtful once more, "Of course you could maybe speed up the process by making it very obvious you don't want to mothered by them all."

"How?"

The older boy grinned, "If a dragon tries to give you food don't eat it or even accept it, if they attempt to nuzzle you then back away and run to Hookfang instead or call for him if you can't get away. This will make the dragons think that they're upsetting you and retreating to Hookfang will show that you prefer him over the others further convincing them you're his. Lastly spend as much time with Hookfang as you can and if you can spend more time with Stoick as well even better. Spending a lot of time with them shows your family attachment to them which will cause many of the dragons to back off as it becomes clear that you have a family already. I can't guarantee that these ideas will stop all the dragons but it should work for most of them. In the end I think they'll eventually accept that you're actually a human anyway it's just the transformations have them confused at the moment."

Snotlout nodded, "Okay Fishlegs, I'll give your ideas a try. Thanks for the advice."

The boy beamed, "Anytime. Though you're going to have to tell me what it was like being an actual dragon some time. I can't wait to find out."

"Maybe once everything has calmed down and the Meatheads have left." The younger boy answered, "I think the village is still unsettled by everything at the moment."

Fishlegs looked slightly disappointed, "I guess you're right."

* * *

Over the next couple of days Snotlout did as Fishlegs suggested and soon he found unwanted attentions from other dragons drastically decrease, Stormfly kept stubbornly trying to mother him but her loyalty to Astrid let the girl keep her in check avoiding any major incidents between the Nadder and an over possessive Hookfang.

The time soon came for the Meatheads to return home with their new dragons and Snotlout was more than happy to see the back of Thuggory. He was part of the large crowd that had come to see the Meatheads off and he stood alongside his uncle with Hookfang right behind him.

Mogadon clapped a hearty hand on his shoulder nearly causing his knees to buckle, "Well then little hatchling. It was nice to see you again even if you were a dragon most of the time."

Interestingly enough Mogadon had actually found the whole event of Snotlout's transformation quite amusing and now insisted on referring to the boy as 'little hatchling'. The man had peppered him with questions about his time as a dragon and a lot of Snotlout's embarrassment from his transformation back had been forgotten as he'd found himself relating the tales of some of his shenanigans as a baby Nightmare to the man.

Mogadon grinned down and patted Snotlout's head (an increasingly common occurrence from many people since he'd changed back) before turning his attention to Hiccup. Thuggory appeared before him next and Snotlout eyed him warily as the Meathead heir stared back. Eventually the older boy held out his hand and Snotlout took it, they shook once and Thuggory moved on. Helen grinned at him and pulled off his helmet and ruffled his hair as she promised to get started on the 'Firefang outfit' soon, personally Snotlout hoped she didn't but he had a feeling he wouldn't be so lucky so he made plans for it to 'accidently' be destroyed.

The Meatheads and Berkians said their goodbyes and soon the Meatheads were aboard their ship as their new Dragon Riders took to the air. The ship set off with the dragons swooping above and soon it was well on its way and people began to head off away from the docks. Snotlout was about to follow them when he noticed Hiccup standing at the water's edge staring into the distance with a frown on his face. Curious he stood beside his cousin, "Hiccup?"

The older boy glanced at him, "We never found the witch that transformed you in the first place."

Snotlout knew where his cousin was going with this, "So she's still out there somewhere."

Hiccup nodded seriously, "Yes, and we don't know why she helped Alvin or even what she wants." He fixed his eyes on the horizon worriedly,

"Something tells me we don't want to find out."

* * *

Sometime later and far away from Berk Skuld sat brooding in an old cave that she'd used as one of her hideouts for a very long time.

Ever since her loss to Berk she'd remained in hiding though her desire for vengeance was very much alive. She cursed Alvin for abandoning her and she wanted nothing more than to make him pay for his treachery but she had to wait.

Though he didn't realise it Snotlout had devastated her reserves of power by activating the circle that changed him back while the other one was still active. Both circles had been formed with powerful magic in a form that hadn't been fully tested and those two massive powers had collided and the backlash had ripped through her magic reserves draining them considerably, now she had little power left so she had to be careful how she used it.

She'd been using her miniscule magic to keep an eye on Berk through her scrying and she'd kept an especially close eye on the two cousins Hiccup and Snotlout, the ones she held responsible for her current weakness. Over the weeks that had passed since her defeat she'd watched as they and their friends had learned more about the dragons and she began to suspect something about Snotlout.

With a little expenditure of her limited magic and some particularly potent herbs she constructed a little plague just for the children of Berk as a test for her theory. As the children one by one fell to her disease she noticed that Snotlout remained completely untouched by its effects and her suspicions grew. She paid close attention as the boy set off on his quest to save his friends and she saw almost every aspect of his journey, his capture by pirates, his escape, the trials he faced upon the Ice Wastes and his discovery of his goal, his high speed return to Berk, his final trial and his miraculous escape which confirmed what she'd suspected all along.

Filled with new determination she saw a chance to claim what she desired and already there were some coming who would help her achieve her goals for they held similar thoughts to her. She waited patiently until the long awaited sound of one of her old friends entered the silence of her cave.

"Skuld."

Before her stood a grey-haired old man who stood tall and strong and she smiled, "Bloodblade."

He returned the smile and briefly bowed, "You likely already know why I am here."

"Indeed old friend. I believe we both share a similar goal regarding a certain Viking boy."

He looked at her in slight surprise, "I was not aware that the child Snotlout had wronged you as well."

"He did." She confimed, "And I fully intend to correct that wrong. Both of us have business with that boy though I believe we should tend to your son first."

"Then I shall bring him to you."

He turned to leave but Skuld's voice stopped him, "Bloodblade." He looked back and she fixed him with a stare, "My power is not as it was and I shall explain to you why soon but it does mean his recovery will take time. It may be years before we can begin towards our goals once more."

The man's eyes were filled with cold determination, "My goals are the same as my son's and he can wait for whatever time is required for he knows the value of patience."

He silently left the cave and Skuld looked down into an old stone font whose waters showed the smiling face of a teenager.

"Enjoy what years you have child for when we are ready we shall return and make you pay in full for what you took from us."

Her hand lashed down and dashed the waters destroying the image within them.

"Snotlout Jorgenson!"

* * *

 _ **PS-So Snotlout now has a load of enemies gathering against him. I may begin the 'sequel' to this fic soon but I might concentrate on 'Family of Iron' for now as that is also unfinished. Either way please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully see you soon.**_


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